Draft Fisheries Assessment – Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

5. Management Options

5.1 Overview of management options

Management measures 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 Firth of Forth Banks Complex 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 (demersal trawls and dredges). Therefore, the option of no management is not considered further.

5.2.2 Zoned management

Zoned fisheries management measures (Figure 7) would be introduced to reduce/limit pressures exerted by demersal mobile gear (excluding demersal seines). This would involve:

• exclusion of all demersal mobile gears (except for demersal seines) from 58% of the site.

There are no fisheries management measures for pelagic or static gears considered.

The management zones have been focused around the known distribution of ocean quahog aggregations. In doing so, a proportion of each offshore subtidal sand and gravel feature is included in these zones. Due to the limited scale of activity and lack of penetrating gear components, it is likely that seine net operations would have little or no effect on the habitats and therefore no management is considered for that gear type. The same is true for static gears operating within the site (i.e. pots and traps).

By managing a proportion of each feature of the sands and gravels habitat, then condition is likely to improve when fishing pressure is reduced. Therefore, the site will be moving towards achieving its conservation objectives.

Ocean quahog is listed as an OSPAR threatened and/or declining species in OSPAR region II. These measures would make a significant contribution towards recovery of the species. 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).

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 conservation objectives for Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.

5.2.3 Full site exclusion

A full site exclusion would remove/avoid all pressures associated with fishing activities using demersal mobile gears, other than demersal seines, across the whole site (Figure 8). Removing these would support the achievement of the conservation objectives of the MPA.

The full site exclusion of mobile demersal gear (other than demersal seine) would contribute to the ecological coherence of both the Scottish MPA Network and the broader OSPAR MPA Network. These measures would make a significant contribution towards recovery of the species. They would 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, Scottish Ministers consider that full site exclusion would not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for the Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.

5.3 Management options conclusions

Scottish Ministers consider that adopting no additional management measures for mobile demersal fishing would, or might, hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA.

Scottish Ministers consider that both the zoned management measures and the full site exclusion option for demersal mobile fishing outlined above would further the conservation objectives.

The decision on which management option is to be taken forward will be taken in the 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.

At current activity levels, fishing using demersal static gear (traps/creels) and demersal seine would not hinder the conservation objectives for Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA, and no additional management is currently required for this activity.