Draft Fisheries Assessment – Braemar Pockmarks SAC: 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 out 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 considered (no additional 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 measures is appropriate.

This section assesses the suitability of the proposed management options solely in light of the conservation objectives, biological characteristics of protected features, stakeholder engagement and current activity levels for Braemar Pockmarks SAC.

5.2 Assessment of management options

5.2.1 No additional management

The assessment identified that management measures would be required to avoid adverse effects on site integrity from mobile demersal trawls. Thus, the option of no management is not considered further.

5.2.2 Zoned management

Scottish Ministers have considered the available evidence regarding the impact of demersal mobile and demersal static gears on the protected features, the JNCC Conservation advice and JNCC Fisheries Management Options Paper for Braemar Pockmark SAC. In light of this evidence and advice, a zoned management option is not considered suitable for the protected features to ensure site integrity for Braemar Pockmark SAC.

5.2.3 Full site exclusion

Full site exclusion would remove/avoid pressures associated with demersal mobile and demersal static fishing gear across the whole site (Figure 5).

This full site closure option would remove/avoid all pressures associated with fishing activities using mobile and static demersal gear through prohibiting the use of all demersal gears across the whole site. This option (Figure 5) would reduce the risk of not achieving the conservation objectives for the Annex I Submarine structure made by leaking gases feature within the site boundary to the lowest possible levels, giving the best possible chance of maintaining or restoring the feature to favourable condition.

Management measures are proposed for demersal mobile gears to remove the risk to achieving the conservation objective posed by these gears. In addition, while the risk to achieving the conservation objective posed by demersal static gears is considered minimal, the scale of this site means that control and enforcement of fishing activity within the SAC would be very difficult. Therefore, the practical approach is to prohibit all demersal mobile and demersal static gears across the whole SAC; thereby limiting this site to single management proposal.

The measures should also help to improve the status of the Sea Pens and Burrowing Megafauna Communities Threatened and/or Declining habitat in OSPAR region II through its incidental protection as these are found in the immediate area surrounding the submarine structures (JNCC, 2018). They should also further progress towards Good Environmental Status in the Greater North Sea, particularly in relation to Descriptors 1 (biological diversity) and 6 (sea-floor integrity).

Given the available evidence, the Scottish Ministers consider that full site exclusion would support the restoration of the Submarine structures made by leaking gases feature to favourable condition and this management measure would be considered sufficient to avoid an adverse effect on site integrity.

5.3 Management options conclusion

Scottish Ministers consider that adopting no additional management measures, or implementing zonal management measures for fisheries activity would pose the risk of adversely affecting the site integrity of Braemar Pockmarks SAC.

Scottish Ministers consider that the proposed full site exclusion option for mobile demersal gear and static gear would be sufficient to avoid an adverse effect on site integrity.

The decision on which management option is to be taken forward will be taken in light of all relevant duties incumbent upon the Scottish Ministers in relation to the exercise of their functions and following upon a statutory public consultation exercise in which views on the options under consideration are invited.