Draft Fisheries Assessment – Central Fladen 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 Central Fladen NCMPA.

5.2 Assessment of management options

5.3 No additional management

The assessment identified that management measures would be required to avoid hindering the achievement of the conservation objectives from demersal trawls for the site. Therefore, the option of no management is not considered further.

5.4 Zoned management

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

• All demersal mobile gear to be prohibited from three areas, together encompassing 40% of the site (Figure 5).

There would be no zoned management measures for demersal static gear (traps and anchored nets/lines), as the need for additional management for this fishing type was not identified during the assessment.

This zoned management option would therefore remove/avoid the pressures associated with demersal trawls, seines and dredges which would be prohibited across a proportion of the site. There would be three closed areas, totalling 40% of the site (see Figure 5 and Table 7).

This option would mean 35% of the site would be closed to demersal trawls, covering 40% of the burrowed mud feature. Although the area remaining open coincides with the areas of moderate demersal trawl intensity, there is a seasonal fisheries closure between January to April for all gears (excluding pelagic) coinciding with the areas of greatest demersal trawl fishing intensity, further reducing risk to the burrowed mud feature.

The area of the site which would be closed to demersal trawls coincides with the area where the tall seapen (Funiculina quadrandularis) are found. This species is a key component of the burrowed mud feature of the site and is particularly sensitive to all demersal fishing activities, as it cannot retract into the sediment.

The proposed zonal management measures should enable further colonisation of seapen Funiculina quadrangularis within the MPA, and/or other seapens. This should help improve the status of the seapens and burrowing megafauna Threatened and/or Declining habitat in OSPAR region II. They should also further progress towards Good Environmental Status in the Greater North Sea, particularly in relation to Descriptors 1 (biological diversity) and 6 (seafloor integrity).

Although the lower impact demersal seines were not deemed to hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives at current levels of activity, this management option as proposed would prohibit demersal seines within the area of moderate demersal seine activity. This would further the achievement of the conservation objectives for the burrowed mud feature so that its extent is stable or increasing; and its structures and functions, its quality, and the composition of its characteristic biological communities are such as to ensure that it is in a condition which is healthy and not deteriorating.

Limiting pressures associated with demersal mobile gears would support achieving the conservation objectives for burrowed mud features, such that its extent is stable or increasing; and its structures and functions, its quality, and the composition of its characteristic biological communities are such as to ensure that it is in a condition which is healthy and not deteriorating within Central Fladen NCMPA.

The zoned management approach would contribute to the ecological coherence of both the Scottish MPA Network and the broader OSPAR MPA 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 of the conservation objectives for Central Fladen NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.

5.5 Full site exclusion

Full site exclusion would remove/avoid all pressures associated with fishing activities using mobile demersal gear through prohibiting the use of mobile demersal gears (including trawls, seines, and boat dredges) across the whole site (Figure 6).

Removing all pressures associated with demersal mobile gears would support the achievement of the conservation objectives for the burrowed mud feature so that its extent is stable or increasing; and its structures and functions, its quality, and the composition of its characteristic biological communities are such as to ensure that it is in a condition which is healthy and not deteriorating.

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

Given the available evidence, Scottish Ministers consider that full site exclusion measures would not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Central Fladen NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.