Ramsey Marine Nature Reserve Zones

Ramsey Marine Nature Reserve is the Isle of Man’s first Marine Nature Reserve and protects a wide range of important marine habitats including eelgrass meadows, horse mussel reefs, maerl beds, kelp forests and brittlestar beds. It is a special place, important for biodiversity and sustainable fisheries. The Reserve was established in 2011 and includes 5 zones with different management measures in place.

Ramsey Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) was developed in a partnership between the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) and the Manx Fish Producers' Organisation (MFPO) with input from other users of the area and the wider community. After an initial area and concept were agreed between the MFPO and DEFA, comprehensive stakeholder consultation led to the development of management zones and regulations.

The zones within RMNR provide a full range of protection, from highly protected through to managed use, appropriate to the features being protected. Conservation features protected include horse mussel reefs, seagrass meadows and maerl beds.

The whole of the Marine Nature Reserve is protected from netting, long-lining, aggregate extraction, dredging, dumping of dredged material and construction (unless licensed).

Horse Mussel Zone

Horse mussels (Modiolus modiolus) are similar to the blue mussels found on the shore but they are much larger and can grow up to 20cm in length. Individuals can live to be over 40 years old. They are filter feeders, taking the food they need from the water flowing. Hence they tend to be found in areas with a strong tidal flow.

Horse mussels can form large reefs or mounds which stabilise the mobile sediments. They use strong byssus threads to attach themselves to rocks and each other.

Horse mussel reefs provide an important habitat for many species such as soft corals, lobsters and starfish. They also provide nursery habitats for whelks and feeding grounds for young cod.

Conservation Zone

This zone protects maerl beds, kelp forests and a range of other seabed and shore types. Maerl is a habitat formed by several species of free-living coralline algae that form small, hard pink nodules that link together and form beds.

Maerl is fragile and slow growing (growing less than 1mm per year) and takes a long time to recover if it is damaged, so it needs protection from trawling and dredging.

Maerl habitats are incredibly diverse, with hundreds of species of animals living in the matrix of nodules, including anemones, worms, crabs and molluscs. Maerl is also an important nursery ground for queen scallops, cod and other species.

Kelp forests are another important habitat in the Conservation Zone, providing shelter, a surface to settle and a food source for many species.

Recreational fishing is permitted within the Conservation Zone but please follow all angling regulations and be aware that you are fishing in a special ecological area.

Rocky Coast Zone

The Rocky Coast Zone protects the important kelp forests and eelgrass meadows that grow along this rocky shorelines. Eelgrass was only discovered in this zone after the Marine Nature Reserve was designated.

This zone is a complex habitat, made up of boulders, crevices, rock pools and platforms which provide differing levels of shelter for many species of animals and plants. Common species include plumose anemones, velvet swimming crabs, wrasse and sea urchins.

The Maughold Cliffs and Brooghs Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) runs along this coastline, protecting important birds, plants and habitats. This area is important for seabirds, including colonies of shags and cormorants and breeding puffins, fulmar, guillemot, black guillemot, razorbill and kittiwake. Grey seals can be seen around this coast and use the inaccessible beaches at the bottom of cliffs for pupping.

This zone is protected from trawling and dredging for king scallops and queen scallops. Recreational fishing is permitted within the Rocky Shore Zone but please follow all angling regulations and be aware that you are fishing in a special ecological area.

Eelgrass Zone

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a marine flowering plant, which unlike seaweeds has a full root system and is more closely related to land plants than to seaweeds. In Manx waters eelgrass is usually found growing between 8-11m. Eelgrass meadows are very productive marine habitats. The plants stabilise the soft sediments in which they grow and increase biodiversity. The meadows provide shelter and nursery grounds for many species of fish and shellfish, many of which are commercially important.

Eelgrass is particularly susceptible to human impacts, so this zone has the greatest protection and is a complete no-take zone for part of the year. This is the most highly protected zone in the Marine Nature Reserve. No fishing or other removal of marine life is permitted in this area, except collection of lugworm and razorshells from 1 October to 31 March.

After stormy weather you can find eelgrass on the shore. It has distinctive bright green blades and obvious roots.

Fisheries Management Zone

The Fisheries Management Zone is managed by the Manx Fish Producers’ Organisation. The fishermen opted to keep the zone closed to all mobile gear fishing for 4 years. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the MFPO carried out a small well managed fishery. Strict quotas were set by the fishermen based on scientific surveys. Fishing activities were timed to coincide with premium prices for scallops on the Christmas market and fishermen co-operated to pool their individual quotas, reducing fuel costs and maximising profits.

Fishermen have so far limited their fishing to a small proportion of the total area available to them, effectively extending the conservation zones of the RMNR and the long term benefits to fisheries and the environment. In September 2015 the MFPO and DEFA carried out a joint scientific survey of Ramsey MNR to inform the 2015 fishery.

See more information about the Fisheries Management Zone

Ramsey MNR took 3 years to establish, from the start of the project to designation of the Isle of Man's first Marine Nature Reserve to statutory designation. Ramsey MNR demonstrates the benefit investing time and resources to work in close partnership with the fishing industry and other stakeholders for conservation and fisheries sustainability outcomes.

For more information about the zones and management regulations for Ramsey Marine Nature Reserve please see the Map and Zoning Guide. For Ramsey MNR byelaws see Ramsey Bay (Marine Nature Reserve) (No. 2) Byelaws 2011.

More information on the process to establish Ramsey MNR can be found in the Conservation chapter of the Manx Marine Environmental Assessment.

More information about the important habitats in Ramsey MNR can be found in the Subtidal Ecology chapter of the Manx Marine Environmental Assessment.