Draft Fisheries Assessment – The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount NCMPA: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

5. Management Options

5.1 Overview of management options

Management measures are being considered by Scottish Ministers and any decision as to which measures ought to be taken forward will follow upon a statutory public consultation exercise. Any such decision will also be taken in line with the Scottish Ministers obligations in relation to the exercise of their functions.

The socioeconomic impacts and costs of each management option (no additional management, zoned management, and full site exclusion) have been assessed within the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) and Sustainability Appraisal (SA), and are not discussed within this fisheries assessment. Nor are other considerations, statutory and non-statutory, which the Scottish Ministers may be required to take into account when assessing whether the imposition of a particular measure is appropriate.

This section assesses the suitability of the management options solely in light of the conservation objectives, biological characteristics of protected features, and current activity levels for The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount NCMPA.

5.2 Assessment of management options

5.2.1 No additional management

The assessment identified that management measures would be required to avoid hindering the achievement of the conservation objectives from mobile demersal gear (trawls) and static demersal gear (longlines) for the site. Thus, the option of no management is not considered further.

5.2.2 Zoned management

Zoned fisheries management measures (Figure 6) would be introduced to reduce/limit pressures. This would involve:

• The exclusion of demersal mobile gears from the entirety of the site where the seamount features occur;
• The exclusion of all demersal static gears from the entirety of the site where seamount features occur; and
• Zonal exclusion of demersal mobile gears from the depths greater than 800m.

There would therefore be no zonal measures for pelagic gears, as the need for additional management for this fishing type was not identified during the assessment.

In this zoned management option, 24% of the site would be closed to demersal static gear, corresponding to the full area of the seamount communities feature which is highly sensitive to longlines, and the offshore subtidal sands and gravels features located on the Hebrides Terrace seamount. In total, 90% of the site would be closed to demersal mobile gear, which again ensures full protection of the highly sensitive seamount communities feature, and provides full protection to the areas of offshore deep-sea muds below 800m.

Limiting pressures associated with demersal mobile gears and demersal static gear would support achieving the conservation objectives for burrowed mud, offshore subtidal sands and gravels, offshore deep sea mud, orange roughy and seamount communities, such that the extent and distribution, structure and function and supporting processes are restored within The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace MPA.

The zoned management approach would contribute to the ecological coherence of both the Scottish NCMPA Network and the broader OSPAR NCMPA Network.

Having considered the conservation and fisheries management advice from the statutory nature conservation bodies, and the wider evidence contained within this assessment, Scottish Ministers consider that zoned management measures would not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount NCMPA, rather they would further these objectives.

5.2.3 Full site exclusion

Full site exclusion would remove/avoid all pressures associated with fishing activities using demersal mobile gears and demersal static gears across the whole site (Figure 7).

Removing all pressured associated with demersal mobile gears and demersal static gears would support the achievement of the conservation objectives for offshore deep sea muds, offshore subtidal sands and gravels, burrowed mud, orange roughy, and seamount communities features.

Full site exclusion of mobile demersal gear and static demersal gear would contribute to the ecological coherence of both the Scottish NCMPA Network and the broader OSPAR NCMPA Network.

Given the available evidence, Scottish Ministers consider that full site exclusion would not hinder achievement of the conservation objectives for The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount NCMPA, but rather it would further them.