MPs have called on the government to ban damaging activities like bottom-trawling, dredging and mining in protected English waters.

The practices are still permitted across Britain's 178 marine protected areas (MPAs), but spurred-on by footage from Sir David Attenborough's new film on oceans showing the heavy metal chains of a bottom trawl net scooping up species indiscriminately, calls for bans have intensified ahead of next week’s UN ocean conference in Nice, France.

Now the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has added its voice to the chorus for action, slamming the government’s “failure to effectively manage gaps in the network of marine protected areas” by allowing these damaging activities to take place, despite Labour water minister Emma Hardy recently telling the committee they were “committed” to ending the practices in MPAs.

EAC chairman Toby Perkins said: “UK waters are teeming with complex ecosystems that are not only precious in their own right but also critical to sustaining the delicate balance of marine life.

“Ministers must ensure that marine protected areas live up to their name.”

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was contacted for comment.