Draft Fisheries Assessment – Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope 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 Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA.

5.2 Assessment of management options

5.2.1 No additional management

The assessment has concluded that management measures would be required to avoid hindering the achievement of the conservation objectives from mobile demersal gear (trawls) for the site. Thus the option of no management is not considered further.

5.2.2 Zoned management

Zoned fisheries management measures would be introducedto reduce/limit pressures (Figure 5). This would involve:

• Demersal mobile gear to be prohibited from three separate areas, totalling 60% of the MPA (Figure 5).

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

In this zoned management option, 60% of the site would be closed to demersal mobile gears. This zonal restriction would remove pressure from a proportion of each habitat across the different depth zones (Figure 6). The management measures would be applied to the upper, middle, and lower parts of the slope, meaning that a range of the biological communities present from the upper shelf to the base of the slope will be covered within the management zones. The measures fully encompass the area of offshore deep-sea muds (located below 800 m depths), and partial protection to the offshore subtidal sands and gravels feature which occurs at shallower depths, reducing pressures on this feature. It is noted that the lower part of the site (below 800 m depth) is subject to existing restrictions on bottom-contacting mobile gear (see section 3.2.1 for more information). In addition, considering a restriction to all demersal mobile-gear would aid compliance and enforcement of the northern portion of the site, where this site boundary overlaps with the West of Scotland MPA, and provides consistency overlapping sites.

Limiting pressures associated with demersal mobile gears would support achieving the conservation objectives for offshore deep-sea muds, offshore subtidal sands and gravels, and burrowed mud features, such that the extent and distribution, structure and function and supporting processes are restored within Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA.

Zonal exclusion of mobile demersal gear 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 objectives for Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.

5.2.3 Full site exclusion

Full site exclusion would remove/avoid all pressures associated with fishing activities using mobile demersal gear through prohibiting the use of demersal mobile gears (including trawls, seines, and boat dredges) across the whole site (Figure 6). No prohibitions would be considered for static demersal gear (including traps and anchored nets/lines), as the need for additional management for this fishing type was not identified during the assessment.

Removing all pressures associated with demersal mobile gears would support achieving the conservation objectives for offshore deep-sea muds, offshore subtidal sands and gravels, and burrowed mud features, such that the extent and distribution, structure and function and supporting processes are restored within Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA.

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 would not hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA, rather they would further those objectives.

Figure 6. Map showing full site exclusion management measures for Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA.

5.3 Management options conclusion

Scottish Ministers consider that adopting no additional management measures for mobile demersal fishing would, or might, hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA.

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

At current activity levels, fishing using static demersal gear, specifically longlines, would not hinder the conservation objectives for Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA, and no additional management measures are currently identified for this activity.

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.