Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful for that contribution. Given the progress that we are making, perhaps I may illustrate just a little further the necessity for the amendment. The new drafting will ensure that a greater range of animals can be protected. For example, sea fans are colonies of tiny creatures which are often used by dogfish to anchor their egg cases containing their young. It is clear that ability to protect pink sea fans and the egg cases of dogfish will ensure that we can boost populations of those organisms, which might not otherwise have been covered by the definition of "animal" currently in the Bill. Such ability will ensure that any deliberate damage to a pink sea fan and accompanying dogfish egg cases in a marine conservation zone where they are protected is liable to prosecution under the general offence in Clause 136. That is the burden of the amendment. Amendment 120A agreed.