Draft Fisheries Assessment – Central Fladen NCMPA: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
These assessments look at the fishing activity occurring within each offshore MPA and SAC and assess the potential impacts of this activity on the protected features within each site. This assessment is for Central Fladen NCMPA.
4 Part C Assessment - In combination assessment
4.1 In combination assessment overview
Part C of this assessment considers the cumulative impacts, which may occur over space and time, in relation activities occurring within the MPA. Activities assessed in this section include the following:
- Fishing activity/pressure combinations which were excluded in Part A of this assessment as not being capable of impacting the feature;
- Fishing interactions assessed in Part B but that would not hinder the conservation objectives for the site; and
- Activities occurring within Central Fladen NCMPA that are not related to fishing.
Fishing activities including demersal trawls have been identified in Part B as requiring management. and will therefore not be considered in Part C.
It was not considered, however, that demersal seines hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives on their own and so they are assessed in combination with other activities occurring at the site in this Part C.
4.2 Other offshore region activities screening
To determine activities, not related to fishing activities, to be included within this part of the assessment, a distance of 5 km was selected as suitable to capture any potential source receptor pathways that could impact the site in combination with effects of the fishing activities assessed. A 5 km buffer was therefore applied to the site boundary to identify relevant activities.
Activities not related to fishing activities were identified using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool. Resources on the JNCC Site Information Centre for Central Fladen, including the JNCC Central Fladen NCMPA: Management Options Paper (2014), were also screened for activities occurring in the site that should be considered in the in-combination assessment.
The map to display offshore region activities (see Figure 4.) was derived from OceanWise’s Marine Themes Vector data (July 2023 version), Crown Estate Scotland leases (September 2023 version), Kingfisher Information Services Offshore Renewable Cable Awareness (KIS-ORCA, as of December 2023 held under licence) and North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA, as of December 2023, data held under Oil and Gas Authority open licence). The Marine Themes “Industrial” was filtered to show offshore region platforms, wellheads, piles, turbines, cables, and pipelines. Features marked as “not in use”, “not present”, “decommissioned”, or “removed” were excluded. The “Administrative” data were filtered to only show military exercise areas which included danger areas.
4.3 Other offshore region activities occurring within Central Fladen NCMPA
The screening exercise using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool identified three pipelines and one cable passing through Central Fladen NCMPA (see Figure 4). Table 1 provides a list of the relevant activities which were considered in combination with the fishing activities occurring within Central Fladen NCMPA.
The Activities and Management section of the JNCC Site Information Centre for Central Fladen NCMPA, indicates that oil and gas pipelines, exploratory activities and telecommunications cables occur within the site (Table 5).
| Relevant activity | Description |
|---|---|
| Oil and gas pipelines | Three oil and gas pipelines cross through south and south-west of the MPA. |
| Oil and gas exploratory activities | Oil and gas blocks licensed in the 29th licencing round occur along the southern boundary and east of the MPA, and so may be subject to oil and gas development in the future. |
| Telecommunication cables | One telecommunications cable currently crosses through the north part of the MPA. Telecommunication cables are not subject to assessment under the EIA regulations (2009) and therefore do not, in general, go through the marine licensing process. |
4.4 Potential pressures exerted by fishing and other plans or projects
To identify the specific pressures that the activities exert on the Central Fladen NCMPA features, the JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022 was used. Table 6 details the pressures exerted by the oil and gas pipelines and telecommunication cables activities (Y- pressure exerted, N- pressure not exerted) and the associated risk profile, as taken from JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022.
It is only those pressures that are associated with the fishing activities (not assessed in Part B) and the other relevant activities, that have been discussed below. Any pressures that are only associated with the relevant activities, and not the fishing activities, are not within the scope of this assessment.
| PAD Pressure | Fishing activity | Oil & Gas infrastructure | Telecommunications cables | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demersal seines | Pipelines | Decommissioning | Laying, burial & protection | Operation & maintenance | |
| Above water noise | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk |
| Changes in suspended solids (water clarity) | Y - Medium-high risk | N | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Collision ABOVE water with static or moving objects not naturally found in the marine environment (e.g., boats, machinery, and structures) | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Collision BELOW water with static or moving objects not naturally found in the marine environment (e.g., boats, machinery, and structures) | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Deoxygenation | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | N |
| Hydrocarbon & PAH contamination. Includes those priority substances listed in Annex II of Directive 2008/105/EC. | Y - Low risk | Y - Medium-high | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Introduction of light | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Introduction or spread of invasive non-indigenous species (INIS) | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Litter | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Nutrient enrichment | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | N |
| Organic enrichment | Y - Low risk | N | N | N | N |
| Penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high risk |
| Physical change (to another seabed type) | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Physical change (to another sediment type) | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Removal of non-target species | Y - Medium-high risk | N | N | N | N |
| Removal of target species | Y - Medium-high risk | N | N | N | N |
| Smothering and siltation rate changes (Light) | Y - Medium-high risk | Y - Medium-high | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Synthetic compound contamination (incl. pesticides, antifoulants, pharmaceuticals). Includes those priority substances listed in Annex II of Directive 2008/105/EC. | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Transition elements & organo-metal (e.g. TBT) contamination. Includes those priority substances listed in Annex II of Directive 2008/105/EC. | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Underwater noise changes | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
| Visual disturbance | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk | Y - Low risk |
4.5 Significance of effects/impacts to protected features
Both abrasion and penetration pressures are at medium-high risk of occurring during demersal seine activity, telecommunications cable decommissioning, laying, burial and protection, operation and maintenance, and during oil and gas pipeline activities.
Demersal seine activity within Central Fladen NCMPA, as described within Section 3.2.4., was found to be dispersed throughout the site at very low levels during 2015-2019, however there is an area of moderate intensity activity within the south-east corner of the site.
Telecommunications cables therefore do not overlap with the existing areas of demersal seine activity, so it is unlikely that these activities will result in in-combination impacts. Furthermore, as the cables are already in situ, only the operation and/or maintenance activity associated with the active cables will be relevant with the potential to exert the abrasion and penetration pressures with a medium-high risk profile.
The area of demersal seine activity overlaps with one of the oil and gas pipelines in Central Fladen NCMPA. As mentioned above, oil and gas pipelines pose a medium-high risk profile of exerting both abrasion and penetration pressures, however this would mainly be associated with construction activity. As the pipelines are already in situ, they are unlikely to be exerting additional pressures on the site.
As offshore oil and gas activities are a licensable activity, these are subject to the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 and other legislation[1], and are therefore obliged to complete the relevant assessments on potential impacts of activities to Marine Protected Areas. This is regulated by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) for exploration and development and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED). Therefore, it is unlikely that oil and gas production, exploration and installation and decommissioning will have a significant in-combination impact with fishing and other activities via this pressure.
4.6 Part C Conclusion
Scottish Ministers conclude that the remaining fishing activities (demersal seines) in-combination with other relevant activities will not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Central Fladen NCMPA.
Contact
Email: marine_biodiversity@gov.scot
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