Draft Fisheries Assessment – Pobie Bank Reef SAC: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

4 Part C Assessment – In-combination assessment

4.1 In-combination assessment overview

This section assess the in-combination provision within Article 6(3) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (the Habitats Directive) to take account of the cumulative impacts, which may occur over space and time, in relation to plans or projects which are completed, approved but uncompleted, or proposed. Activities assessed in this section include the following:

• Fishing activity/pressure combinations which were excluded in Part A of this assessment as having no likely significant impact;
• Fishing interactions assessed in Part B but not resulting in adverse effects; and
• Plans and projects occurring within Pobie Bank Reef SAC that are not related to fishing.

Fishing activities including demersal trawls and demersal seines have been identified in Part B as requiring management to avoid adverse effects to site integrity and will therefore not be considered in Part C. Static fishing using anchored nets/lines was not considered to have an adverse effect on site integrity on its own and is assessed in combination with other plans or projects occurring at the site in Part C. Although pelagic fishing was shown to occur in the site, as in Part A, pelagic mid-water trawl fishing has been classified as not relevant to the protected features within the site as the activity and feature do not interact. Therefore, there is no potential for in-combination effects. Although pelagic fishing was shown to occur in the site, as in Part A, pelagic mid-water trawl fishing has been classified as not relevant to the protected features within the site as the activity and feature do not interact. Therefore, there is no potential for in-combination effects.

4.2 Other offshore region activities screening

To determine plans and projects 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 plans and projects.

Plans and projects not related to fishing activities were identified using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool. The NatureScot and JNCC Conservation Objectives and Advice on Operations, and other resources on the JNCC Site Information Centre for Pobie Bank Reef SAC, 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 6) 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 Pobie Bank Reef SAC

The screening exercise using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool did not identify any current cables, turbines or piles, wellheads, or offshore region platforms located within the site (see Figure 6). Two pipelines briefly intersect with the site, one in the far north of the site one in the far southwest corner of the site. There is one offshore region wind lease that follows the site boundary in the southeast, and two further lease areas less than 5 km to the west of the site boundary. None of these lease areas intersect with the Pobie Bank Reef SAC and no offshore region wind infrastructure is currently located within the lease areas.

The JNCC 2017 update on Activities and Management at the Pobie Bank Reef SAC confirmed that 'licensable' activities such as oil and gas exploration and production do not take place within Pobie Bank Reef SAC at present. The NatureScot and JNCC Conservation Objectives and Advice on Operations indicates there are three wrecks within the site boundary, and confirmed the presence of the pipeline that briefly intersects the far north of the site.

4.4 Potential pressures exerted by fishing and other plans or projects

The offshore region wind leases that follow the site boundary in the southeast and occur left that 5 km to the west of the site boundary do not intersect with the Pobie Bank Reef SAC and no offshore region wind infrastructure is currently located within the lease areas. Subsequently there is no spatial overlap with or proximity to the reef feature within the site, and offshore region wind activities are not considered capable of impacting the reef feature within the site.

According to the NatureScot and JNCC Conservation Objectives and Advice on Operations for the site, the Pobie Bank Reef SAC was assessed as exposed to a low level of physical loss (obstruction) from three wrecks. Very low levels of physical obstruction may also be associated with the two pipelines that briefly intersect with the site. However, physical loss (obstruction) is not a pressure that is associated with the fishing activities occurring in the site. Thus the obstruction provided by the wrecks and pipelines is not considered further as part of the in-combination assessment.

4.5 Significance of effects/impacts to protected features

None of the other offshore region activities occurring within the Pobie Bank Reef SAC exerted pressures on the reef feature that would overlap with the pressures exerted by static demersal fishing (anchored nets/lines). Accordingly, there were no likely significant effects identified within the in-combination assessment. Considering the absence of likely significant effects, the assessment did not identify any in-combination activities that could adversely affect the site integrity of Pobie Bank Reef SAC.

4.6 Part C Conclusion

Scottish Ministers conclude that the remaining fishing activities (demersal static gear: anchored nets/lines) in-combination with other relevant activities are compatible with the conservation objectives of the site and will not adversely affect the site integrity of Pobie Bank Reef SAC, at current levels of activity.