Large expansion to 'blue belt' of UK's protected marine areas announced

Conservationists say protection helps stop marine-damaging activities

An area nearly twice the size of England will become a "blue belt" of protected waters after the government created 41 new marine conservation zones.

The short-snouted seahorse, the ocean quahog, ross worm reefs and blue mussel beds are among the species and habitats that will benefit from the new protections, although dredging and other damaging activities can only be halted in zones that lie within inshore waters, up to 12 nautical miles from the coast.