Draft Fisheries Assessment – Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

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 to activities occurring within the NCMPA. 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 that would not hinder the conservation objectives for the site; and
• Activities occurring within Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA that are not related to fishing.

Demersal trawls, demersal sines and anchored nets/lines have been identified in Part B as requiring management, and will therefore not be considered in 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. The JNCC Conservation Advice package, and other resources on the JNCC Site Information Centre for Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA, 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 5) 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 Faroe Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA

The screening exercise using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool identified a number of other offshore activities taking place within the site or within 5km of the site boundary. The activities found were two subsea telecommunication cables, two pipelines, seven active and multiple decommissioned well heads and two offshore platforms.

Screening did not identify any current turbines or piles, or military regions within the site (see Figure 5). Further decommissioned wellheads are located within 5 km of the site boundary and the identified cable and pipelines continue out the site.

4.4 Potential pressures exerted by fishing and other activities

To identify the specific pressures that the activities exert on the Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA features, the JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022 was used. The JNCC fisheries management options paper for Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA lists licensed activities including oil and gas industry developments, including drilling of wells, installation of platforms, pipelines and other subsea infrastructure, and their ongoing use and maintenance; and telecommunications cables capable of affecting the protected features.

Risks associated with oil and gas production and pipelines, telecommunication cables and offshore platforms were assessed for the active wellhead and pipelines in the site. The active pipelines are currently in place, removing the risk of any pressures associated with laying, burial and protection, or decommissioning.

The JNCC PAD indicated six pressures exerted by operation and maintenance of oil and gas infrastructure, telecommunication cables or pipelines to be of a medium-high risk. Those that are considered a low risk are not assessed.

The six pressures associated with operation and maintenance of oil and gas infrastructure, telecommunication cables or pipelines are:

• Abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed;
• Penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion;
• Habitat structure changes – removal of substratum (extraction);
• Introduction of other substances (solid, liquid or gas);
• Hydrocarbon & PAH contamination. Includes those priority substances listed in Annex II of Directive 2008/105/EC and;
• Smothering and siltation rate changes (light).

Of these pressures associated with operation of oil and gas infrastructure, telecommunication cables or pipelines, abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed; penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion and smothering and siltation rate changes (Light) to which the features of the site are considered to be sensitive .

4.5 Significance of effects/impact to protected features

Of the pressures identified for telecommunication cable, and oil and gas activity within the site, the protected features are the site are considered to be sensitive to three of these. These three pressures are abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed; penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion and smothering and siltation rate changes (light.

As the pipelines and telecommunication cables are in situ and therefore not subject to pressures related to laying or decommissioning, the pressures identified in section 4.4 occur where the pipeline or cables needs to be reburied or uncovered for repair. The frequency of the activity will be very low.

The active wellheads are located in the centre of the site and to the east, no seine activity was found to occur within or near these wellheads. When taking into account the additional pressure exerted by fishing activity, in combination with pressures exerted by activity around the wellhead, it is unlikely there will be any increase in pressure.

Licensable activities such as oil and gas exploration and production taking place or that may take place within this NCMPA are managed in accordance with the clauses set out under Section 126 of The Marine & Coastal Access Act (2009). Under this clause, JNCC has a statutory responsibility to advise the regulator on developments that are capable of affecting the protected features of the NCMPA and that may hinder the achievement of the site's conservation objectives. JNCC considers the existing marine licensing process is sufficient to ensure the management of licensable activities taking place, or that could take place in the future, on the protected features of this NCMPA.

Considering all current fishing activity within the site has been identified in Part B as requiring management measures, the assessment did not identify any in-combination activities that were considered likely to affect the protected features of the site of Faroe Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA.

Subsequently, the assessment did not identify any in-combination activities that were considered likely to affect the protected features of the site of Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA.

4.6 Part C conclusion

Scottish Ministers conclude that the remaining fishing activities in-combination with other relevant activities will not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA.