Draft Fisheries Assessment – West of Scotland NCMPA: Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

2. Part A assessment – fisheries screening

2.1 Fisheries screening overview

Part A of this assessment considers whether the fishing activity would be capable of affecting the protected features of an NCMPA or any ecological or geomorphological process on which the conservation of any protected feature is dependent. This section looks at the pressures exerted by the fishing activity occurring in the site (within the assessment period) in relation to the sensitivities of the protected features. Activities potentially capable of affecting the protected feature were identified where there was both a medium-high risk of a pressure arising from the fishing activity and if any of the features were considered sensitive to that pressure. These pressure-features interactions were then taken forward to the fisheries assessment stage (Part B) to determine whether the fishing activity in question would or might hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives.

For each activity assessed in Part A, there were two possible outcomes for each identified pressure-feature interaction:

• The pressure-feature interactions were not included for Part B:
  • If the feature is not exposed to the pressure, and is not likely to be in the future; or
  • If the effect/impact of the pressure is non-existent or insignificant.
• The pressure-feature interactions were included for assessment in Part B:
  • If the feature is exposed to the pressure, or is it likely to be in the future; and
  • If the pressure is capable of affecting the feature; or
  • If it is not possible to determine whether the pressure is capable of affecting the feature.

Part B of the assessment considers the potential for activities to affect the feature by assessing the impact of fishing gears identified in Part A. This involves determining the potential level of interaction between the feature and the fishing activity, assessing the potential impact on the feature, and subsequently if fishing activities would or might hinder the achievement of the conservation objectives for the site.

Consideration of exposure to and the effect of a pressure on a protected feature of the NCMPA includes the consideration of exposure to and the effect of that pressure on any ecological or geomorphological process on which the conservation of the protected feature is wholly or in part dependant.

The JNCC West of Scotland NCMPA Conservation Objectives and Management Advice document and the West of Scotland NCMPA Fisheries Management Options paper have been used to inform this assessment. This is the most recent information and options paper available.

Where appropriate, this advice has been supplemented by information on pressures associated with fishing activity from the JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022 and the Feature Activity Sensitivity Tool (FeAST).

2.2 Activities taking place within West of Scotland NCMPA

To screen out fishing activities that were not taking place within the site or likely to take part in the future, Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data within West of Scotland NCMPA from 2015 – 2019 were analysed to identify the gear types being used in the site and the aggregated gear method (Table 1). The fishing gears screened out at this stage were not taken forward to Part B of the assessment.

On reviewing the ICES gridded data, which includes EU and Norwegian vessels, demersal seine activity was also found to occur within the site.

2.3 Potential pressures exerted by site fishing activity

According to the JNCC West of Scotland NCMPA Management Options Paper (2023) the existing fishing activity believed to take place within or close to West of Scotland NCMPA considered capable of affecting the protected features are demersal trawls; demersal seines; purse seines; pelagic trawls; unknown trawls; gillnets; hooks and lines and pots and traps.

The potential pressures that could be exerted by fishing activities (demersal trawls, pelagic fishing, anchored nets/lines and demersal seines) considered capable of affecting protected features were determined using information on activity-pressure relationships in the JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022. The potential pressures that could be exerted by demersal trawls, pelagic fishing, anchored nets/lines and demersal seines are summarised in Table 2.

The aggregated gear type of ‘anchored nets/lines’ spans two categories in the PAD: set (fixed) net fishing and line fishing. Subsequently, potential pressures for this aggregated gear type were listed under the two PAD categories (Table 2). The risk profiling of pressures was the same for set (fixed) net fishing and line fishing within PAD, confirming that these categories could be considered together under the aggregated gear type of ‘anchored nets/lines’ in later sections of the assessment.

Within the PAD, the above water noise and collision above water pressures both had low risk profiles for all fishing activity types, however these were not considered capable of affecting the protected features and were excluded.

2.4 Significance of effects/impacts to protected features

In the absence of a JNCC Advice on Operations advice package for this site, the Feature Activity Sensitivity Tool (FeAST) and JNCC Marine Pressures-Activities Database (PAD) v1.5 2022 were used to determine the potential sensitivity of the protected features (Table 3) to the pressures exerted by the relevant fishing activities (Table 2).

Table 3 identifies the pressures from particular gears that could be capable of affecting each feature. Where a pressure from a particular gear is identified as being capable of affecting a feature, justification is provided. To ensure the effects of fishing activities in-combination with other activities (including other fishing activities) are fully assessed, the pressures from fishing activities which were not identified being capable of affecting a feature but which do interact with the feature are considered in the in-combination aspect of the assessment (Part C).

Considering both the information on the pressure activity association (Table 2) and the sensitivity of protected habitats features (Table 3) and protected mobile species features (Table 4) pressures that have the potential to affect the feature are summarised in Table 5. Table 3 and 4 list the sensitivity of the protected features to the pressures caused by each type of fishing gear occurring within West of Scotland NCMPA.

Table 5 identifies the pressures from particular gears that are capable of affecting each protected feature. Where a pressure from a particular gear is identified as not being capable of affecting the feature, justification is provided. Pressures with a medium-high risk profile in PAD and to which FeAST assessed the feature as being Sensitive, Medium Sensitivity or High Sensitivity have the potential to affect the feature.

Pressures that are not relevant to demersal trawls, demersal seines, pelagic fishing, and anchored nets/lines (pressures that are not exerted by that fishing activity: ‘not relevant to the activity’ in Table 4) do not need to be considered further in the assessment. According to the PAD methods document (Robson et al., 2018), pressures with low risk profiles (i.e. ‘low’ risk profile for the activity: Tables 2 & 4) generally do not occur at a level of concern and should not require consideration as part of an assessment, unless there are evidence-based cases or site-specific factors that increase the risk, or there is uncertainty on the level of pressure on a receptor. Pressures with ‘medium-high’ risk profiles are commonly induced by the activity at a level that needs to be considered further as part of an assessment.

Of all the pressures considered, six have medium-high risk profiles (PAD) for either all, or some of the fishing activities that occur within the site, and the protected features have are sensitive to either all, or some, of these pressures (FeAST). The six 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; smothering and siltation rate changes (light); changes in suspended solids (water clarity); removal of target species and removal of non-target species (Table 5). These six pressures are subsequently considered to have the potential to affect a combination of the protected habitat and mobile species features. All six of these pressures are exerted by either all, or some of the fishing activities that occur within the site (demersal trawls, demersal seines, pelagic fishing and anchored nets/lines).

To ensure the effects of fishing activities in-combination with other activities (including other fishing activities) are fully assessed, the pressures from fishing activities which were not considered capable of affecting but which do interact with the features are considered in the in-combination aspect of the assessment (Part C).

2.5 Part A conclusion

Considering the information on pressures and sensitivity above demersal trawls, demersal seines, pelagic fishing and anchored nets/lines have the potential to affect the Burrowed mud (including Sea-pens); Coral gardens; Cold-water coral reefs (including Lophelia pertusa reefs); Deep-sea sponge aggregations; Offshore deep-sea muds; Offshore sands and gravels; Seamount communities; Blue ling (Molva dypterygia); Leafscale gulper shark (Centrophorus squamosus) / Gulper shark (Centrophorus granulosus); Orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus); Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis) and Round-nose grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) within West of Scotland NCMPA through 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; changes in suspended solids (water clarity); removal of non-target species; removal of target species; and smothering and siltation rate changes (light). These six pressures are considered to affect the features and are taken through to Part B of the assessment.