Blackpool Sea Life Centre has backed a campaign to protect areas of water off the British Isles from overfishing.
137 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in UK waters were proposed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but the government has decided to approve only 30 of them.
The Flyde Offshore MCZ lies in the Irish Sea off the coast of Blackpool, and is one of the limited agreed areas where marine life is to be protected.
The manager of the town’s Sea Life Centre told the Blackpool Gazette: “This news has come as a bit of a body blow.
“Sea Life supports the view that only the approval of all 127 proposed protected zones will cover enough of our coastal waters to give rapidly diminishing fish stocks a realistic chance of recovery.”