Draft Fisheries Assessment – Scanner Pockmark 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 under 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 Scanner Pockmark SAC that are not related to fishing.

Demersal trawls have been identified in Part B as requiring management to avoid adverse effects of site integrity and will therefore not be considered in Part C. At present, as there are no other demersal fishing activities that known to take place within Scanner Pockmark SAC, there are no fishing activities need to be considered in combination with other plans/projects occurring at the site in Part C.

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 Scanner Pockmark 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 3) 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 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 activities occurring within Scanner Pockmark SAC

The screening exercise using the Scottish Government’s marine mapping tool did not identify any current cables, pipelines, turbines or piles, or offshore platforms within the site, with the exception of two decommissioned wellheads (see Figure 3).

According to the Activities and Management section of the JNCC Site Information Centre for Scanner Pockmark SAC, there are two abandoned, explorative oil wells and the south-east corner of the SAC overlaps with the Blenheim oil field (production ceased). However, as there are no fishing activities for assessment against, it was not necessary to undertake an in-combination assessment.

4.4 Potential pressures exerted by fishing and other plans or projects

The wellhead in the centre of the site is currently suspended or decommissioned, subsequently it is not considered capable of impacting the Annex I habitat submarine structures made by leaking gases pockmarks. The two suspended or decommissioned wellheads within 5 km to the east of the site do not overlap with the site or the Annex I habitat and are subsequently not considered capable of impacting the Annex I habitat.

Although the Activities and Management section of the JNCC Site Information Centre for Scanner Pockmark SAC indicated there is a low density of commercial shipping in this area, vessel anchorage is unlikely due to its offshore location. Thus the pressures associated with these surface vessel activities are not considered able to impact the Annex I habitat submarine structures made by leaking gases pockmarks.

4.5 Significance of effects/impacts to protected features

Other offshore region activities occurring within the Scanner Pockmark SAC did not exert pressures on the submarine structures made by leaking gases pockmarks and there were no fishing activities to be included in the in-combination assessment. Subsequently, no likely significant effects were 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 Scanner Pockmark SAC.

4.6 Part C conclusion

Scottish Ministers conclude that remaining fishing activities in-combination with other relevant activities are compatible with the conservation objectives of the site and will not adversely affect the site integrity of Scanner Pockmark SAC.