Fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): Draft fisheries assessments methodology report

4. Proposed fisheries management measures

Proposed fisheries management measures have been developed for individual sites. The fisheries measures proposed are based on best available scientific evidence regarding the risk to protected features from different fishing gear.

The gear types identified as requiring management for each site are identified from advice and evidence provided by JNCC and Nature Scot. This is evidence and advice are available for each site in the Fisheries Management Options papers which can be accessed through the JNCC website: Resource Hub.

For fifteen sites, two options for fisheries management are presented within the consultation and draft Fisheries Assessments. In respect of each site, the two options which present different levels of management, will be considered against the relevant legislative provisions in the light of consultation responses.

The options also support the Environmental Outcomes of the National Performance Framework by restricting fishing activities to levels that will support the achievement of site conservation objectives. Both also support the Scottish Governments Sustainable Development Goals of the National Performance Framework by allowing fishing activity which has been identified as not requiring management to continue in the site.

For sites with two options presented, Option 1 represents zoned measures for specified fishing activity. Option 2 restricts specified fishing activity from the full site. The associated draft Fisheries Assessment contains the proposed fisheries management measures for each site.

For five sites, only one management proposal is presented which is a full site exclusion for fishing with specified gear. This is the case where a full site level of protection from the specified gear has been identified as the only suitable option to support the achievement the conservation objectives of the site.

The zonal measures presented under Option 1 are measures that were developed in workshops with stakeholders from 2013-2017 under the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). While the UK was a member of the EU, Scotland was required to follow the CFP process in order to implement fisheries management measures for conservation purposes in the Scottish offshore region. However, this process was not completed prior to the UK exiting the EU. Following the EU exit, Scotland is continuing this work using domestic powers. Some amendments to the proposed measures have been made post-2017 due to changes in available supporting evidence. Any changes were put forward for discussion with stakeholders in 2022.

The full site restrictions under Option 2 impose a greater level of restriction on fishing activities in the sites.