Abstract
The non-statutory plan was adopted in 2005. A first statutory Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) for the BPNS was accepted in 2014 and was subject to a revision cycle after 6 years. This first MSP confirmed the zone for renewable energy, co-located with sustainable aquaculture activities and nature-restoration efforts (‘artificial reefs’). This zone, located at the Belgian-Dutch marine border is 238 km². Within the same MSP, the Special Area of Conservation ’Vlaamse Banken’ was designated near the Belgian-French border. This marine protected area has a surface of 1099 km² and encompasses protected benthic habitats, including “sandbanks which are slightly covered by sea water all the time” (Habitat type 1110) and “geogenic and biogenic reefs” (Habitat type 1170) (Fig. 2). Special Protection Area 1 for birds and a part of Special Protection Area 2 are located within the ‘Vlaamse Banken’.
The ‘Habitat 1170’ encompasses the gravel beds in the Hinder Banken area. Historically, this natural hard substrate habitat consists of gravels with a low to medium sand content where sedimentation rates are low and waters are very clear (Houziaux et al. 2008, 2011). Gravel beds are home to a specific hardsubstrate benthic fauna, including branching three-dimensional structures that leads to a biodiversity that is very different from what is observed in the neighbouring mobile sandy substrate (Houziaux et al. 2008). This natural situation does not longer prevail as a consequence of intensive bottom trawling activities (Houziaux et al. 2011). Actually, only small remains of the historically biodiverse gravel beds are still present (Houziaux et al. 2008). The present conservation status of the Habitat 1170 in the area of the Vlaamse Banken MPA is considered as “unfavorable – bad” (EEA 2013), which leads to the legal obligation to preserve the remaining biodiversity and calls for restoration of the habitat to a more favorable conservation status.