Bluemull and Colgrave Sounds Special Protection Area: business and regulatory impact assessment

Errata

An errata was published on (date tbc) as a result of changes on PDF page 10 to the table titled “Economic Costs on the Activity of Classification of the Site as an SPA”. The changes made were amending the wording in the second paragraph from “..within an existing classified site (SAC, SPA and NC SPA)” to “within an existing site (SAC, SPA or MPA). Changes were also made on pages 12 & 14 to sections titled “Energy Generation” and “Ports and Harbours”. The changes made were amending the acronym “FTR” to instead read “Bluemull and Colgrave Sounds”. The HTML and PDF have been updated to reflect these changes.

Description

The Scottish Government is committed to a clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse marine and coastal environment that meets the long term needs of people and nature. In order to meet this commitment our seas must be managed in a sustainable manner - balancing the competing demands on marine resources. Biological and geological diversity must be protected to ensure our future marine ecosystem is capable of providing the economic and social benefits it yields today. The EU Wild Birds Directive (2009/147/EC as codified) requires Member States to classify as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) the most suitable territories for wild birds. Building on the work of the SPA Review Working Group and taking account of existing guidelines on the identification of SPAs (JNCC, 1999), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have identified 13 sites which they consider essential for marine SPA status. These proposals include sites supporting wintering waterfowl, important areas for red throated divers, terns, European shag and foraging seabirds. This document assesses the business and regulatory impacts of classifying the Bluemull and Colgrave Sounds SPA.