 yw'r meddaeth o ddyliadau ymarferwyddoedd ag ein bodi'r byd amrys. Roedd yng ngalousen fannaer gyffredin yr ystod Gwasgwyr, ac ystod gwiaith yn wych gweithio gwhaith yn gyffredinon yn dweud. Mae'r meddwl saf flyny o oedd mae'r meddwl ei lleid sinol sits yn ffadae o'r meddwl ei leidio, ac mae'r meddwl yn gweithio ar y gweith gwasgwyr. Wedyn ddweud â'r meddwl eu meddwl ei wneud, gan y bobl ar stakef yma yw 50% gwelts wedi'r bwysig yn rhwng ar y Cwelfod Dyn ni. But 50% of coverage does not mean that 50% of the seabed is protected. All Welsh marine protected areas are multi-use and managed on the basis of the sensitivity of their protected features. So why do we need more marine protected areas? One way to achieve a resilient marine environment in Wales is through a network of well-managed marine protected areas, or NPAs. They contribute to a wider network of NPAs around the UK. And they help to keep areas of biological, social and economic value in a healthy productive state with diverse life that benefits everyone. The need for an ecologically coherent network of NPAs is specified under many international and national legislative obligations and conventions. An ecologically coherent network of NPAs has to protect the diversity of the marine environment, ensuring the examples of all habitats and species that are found within our seas are protected in a number of sites and spread out within our waters. More information on the Welsh NPA network completion project is available in the process document on the project website. To determine whether Wales was meeting its obligations of having an ecologically coherent network of NPAs, a network assessment was carried out in 2016 on the contribution of Welsh NPAs within the two regional seas that overlap with Welsh waters. All UK seas are divided up into regional seas based on biogeographic characteristics. And within Wales, these are the Irish Sea region in blue on the map and the Western Channel and Celtic Sea region in green. The assessment of Welsh NPAs was based on the approach taken by DEFRA and JNCC for NPAs under their jurisdiction, which specified that for broad-scale habitats we need to have at least 10% of each type protected in each region, that these broad-scale habitats should be found in more than one NPA and that the NPA should be spread throughout Welsh waters. And for section 7 on osbar habitats and species, these features should be protected in at least three NPAs. The assessment of Welsh NPAs found that there are a small number of shortfalls within the network, five in the Irish Sea and six in the Western Channel and Celtic Sea. Broad-scale habitat shortfalls have been identified where we need to protect additional habitat to meet the 10% target and the areas required range from an additional 25km squared to over 500km squared. For the osbar and section 7 habitat and species, we're looking for additional occurrences or replicates to meet the requirement to protect these features in three different NPAs. Welsh Government plans to use the powers to designate marine conservation zones or MCZs to address these shortfalls in the network. Supporting and guiding the NPA network completion project are the Tasking Finish Group, which is a group of representatives from the Wales Marine Action and Advisory Group. The Tasking Finish Group is independently chaired and includes a range of stakeholders such as environmental and non-governmental organisations such as the Wildlife Trust and the Marine Conservation Society, community groups, local government, the Crown Estate, an industry representative such as Marine Energy Wales, the Welsh Fishermen's Association, the British Marine AgriProduce Association, Seabed Users and Developers Group, Welsh Ports and British Marine. The first task of our work with the Tasking Finish Group was to set out some guiding principles for the process, and these are the MCZ options should be in areas of lower socioeconomic activity to minimise negative impacts, that there will be a preference for multi-feature sites to minimise the overall number of sites, that we need to address the lack of marine protected areas in deeper waters, and finally that marine conservation zones will be multi-use and their management will be determined by the sensitivity of the designated features to the activities present. Welsh Government convened the Tasking Finish Group in April 2019 to agree the approach with the group members. This diagram shows the various steps agreed in the process. For more information on the process please refer to the project web page which will be displayed at the end of the presentation. We are currently between steps two and three in a period of informal stakeholder engagement and there will be a public consultation later on in the process where you will also be able to have your say. Here is an illustration of the phase process for identifying possible marine conservation zones for consultation, moving from larger, broad areas of search which are then refined and get more focused as the process develops. We are in a period of informal stakeholder engagement on the areas of search to gather additional information on activities and interests. We are discussing the areas of search with interested sectors, stakeholders and communities and we will use this information to help with determining suitable areas. Once possible marine conservation zones have been identified with the Tasking Finish Group, JNTC and NRW will provide pre-consentration advice ahead of Welsh Government's 12-week public consultation. More information can be found on the project web page. So how did we get to stage two? This is a brief explanation of how we first developed the broad areas of search and then refined them to identify the areas of search. More information on this can be found in the overview documents on the project web pages. First, we needed to determine where we can't have an MCZ, for example where the shortfall features are already protected or where there are activities or infrastructure which should be incompatible with an MCZ. The light blue areas on the map represent annex one habitat features within special areas of conservation or SACs where the shortfall features within these areas are already protected and have already been included in the NPA network assessment. The dark blue areas on the map represent existing infrastructure or currently licensed activities which should be incompatible with the designation of an MCZ. These occurrences of existing infrastructure, currently licensed activities and annex one habitat that's already protected are referred to as the blue layer. These areas are out of scope for MCZs and so all habitat and species that occur in these areas will not be taken any further in the process. Examples of existing infrastructure and currently licensed activities include wind farms, licensed areas for offshore renewables, areas for aggregate extraction, disposal grounds and anchorage areas. We're aware that this doesn't cover all activities. This is the start of the process and these are the areas where we definitely know that there are incompatibilities. Other activities will be picked up through wider engagement and used to inform discussions further in the process. Pipeline projects which are those that aren't yet licensed will also form part of this. This slide shows the broad areas of search for the Irish Sea in the top left and the western channel in Celtic Sea in the bottom right. The broad areas of search is comprised of the blue layer alongside the distribution of the shortfall habitats and species. The extent and distribution of the shortfall features has been collated from best available evidence. Detail on how the broad areas of search will develop can be found on the project web pages. As you can see from the maps some of the shortfalls cover most of Welsh waters whereas others are limited to one or two locations. In order to narrow down the focus these broad areas of search were shared with the task and finish group. A 10km squared grid was overlaid on the broad areas of search and the task and finish group were asked to select areas that could provide opportunities to meet the shortfalls in each regional sea. Grid cells that were chosen more than once in the task and finish group responses were used to inform the draft areas of search. The draft areas of search were discussed with the task and finish group and a number were removed. Areas were removed if they were predominantly inshaw and didn't meet the requirement to provide representation in deeper offshore waters or if they were close to existing SACs that protect the same habitat features. Preference was given to sites that were further offshore where relevant. The remaining six areas of search presented here will be taken into the next stage of wider engagement. They are areas A, B, D and F in the Irish Sea, area E that spans the boundary of the regional seas and area GH in the western channel and Celtic Sea. There are many presentations about each area of search that has been taken forward. These can be found on the project web page along with more information on steps one and two, the overall process and how you can have your say. Thank you.