South West Deeps (East) MPA

South-West Deeps (East) covers an area of in the Western Channel and Celtic Sea, and has a maximum depth of . The eastern boundary is off the Land's End peninsula. Subtidal sand with areas of subtidal coarse sediment dominate the seabed and there is an area of deep-sea bed in the south. A geological feature is the Celtic Sea Relict Sandbanks, which are among the largest and deepest shelf sand ridges in UK waters and is one of two MPAs to protect deep-sea bed habitats outside of Scotland. The MCZ protects various species including clams, cockles, burrowing marine worms and species of flatfish such as sole and plaice. ==Fishing==

On 1 September 2022, Greenpeace UK dropped eighteen limestone boulders onto the seabed off the coast, to stop bottom trawling in part of the MCZ. Greenpeace claims there is no protection for the MCZ from industrial fishing and that it is one of the most heavily fished of the Marine Protected Areas (MPA). Greenpeace UK claim that in the previous 18 months, 19,000 hours of fishing occurred in the South-West Deeps, of which 3,370 hours was bottom trawling. Of the industrial fishing vessels in the area, 53% were French, 30% Spain and 9% British. The move was criticised by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) which said Greenpeace UK took part in an unlicenced activity which could put fishermen lives at risk and they were ″delivering accelerated protection measures within Marine Protection Areas.″ ==References==