The public have a unique moment to save the seas of Cornwall following a new report which urges the government to tackle five challenges simultaneously.

The Wildlife Trust has published a new report that identifies five unprecedented challenges for our seas which must be addressed before the UK leaves the European Union.

The trust has said the government must ensure there is a clear vision for the marine environment, and its first responsibility is to ensure that it brings across existing European regulations which provide protective measures for the seas and sea-life. This means safeguarding existing protective law, as promised in the Withdrawal Bill.

With that done, the trust believes five challenges remain:

It has said there are not enough protected wild places at sea, and the network needs to protect the whole range of wildlife in our

After the significant reform of the Common Fisheries Policy some fish stocks have begun to recover, but there are still significant discard issues. The government needs to make sure that this process is continued which will benefit jobs, consumers and wildlife

Fishing, oil rigs, wind farms and gravel extraction from the seabed all take a huge toll on UK seas, fragile seabed habitats and the wildlife that lives in them, and the trsust wants to plan the seas so that there is space for wildlife to recover and to provide certainty to industry as to where they can develop and fish.

The trust wants to see an end to sewage, farming chemicals, plastic litter washed out to sea, abandoned fishing nets and noise pollution from new developments at sea, which are killing wildlife and adversely affecting human health.

The trust also believes that the success in tackling these threats ultimately rests on people’s understanding and accepting the need for change, and hopes to change human behaviour accordingly.

The Wildlife Trusts’ director of living seas, Joan Edwards, said: “We are witnessing unprecedented pressures on UK seas and their fragile seagrass meadows, reefs and mud plains on which fish, dolphins and whales depend. Plastic is in the marine food-chain and is now affecting humans too. Seabird numbers are dropping due to lack of food. More dolphins are being caught in fishing nets than ever and sea bass stocks have declined by 50 per cent in five years. The natural balance of our seas is at an all-time low and we need a brand-new strategy for the new era that we’re entering which tackles all these threats together – simultaneously.

“Our report shows why we need a new marine management system based on Regional Sea Plans which would allow a new spatial planning programme and achieve global goals for sustainable development. At the heart of this we also need a network of protected areas that represent the full range of marine habitats and species and are well distributed so that fragmented undersea places and wildlife can recover.”

Ruth Williams, marine conservation manager for Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: “The issues highlighted in this report are of national concern, but the impacts are often seen and felt locally. We have plastic pollution washing ashore around Cornwall in vast quantities, three million tiny plastic ‘nurdles’ were collected from one Cornish beach in one day! Our local communities and volunteers do a fantastic job locally, but we need Government to take these issues seriously and the actions highlighted in the Wildlife Trust Marine Strategy are real positive solutions. We need to ensure we take this opportunity to better manage our seas, to create a thriving environment that supports a strong ‘blue economy’ for the future”.

The new report by The Wildlife Trusts, The way back to Living Seas, has been published today, and will be presented to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, at a marine round table being held on board research vessel Cefas Endeavour on the Thames in London this afternoon.