Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - Socio-Economic Impact Assessment

2. Proposals for Fisheries Management Measures

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010^[12] and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009^[13] gave Scottish Ministers powers to designate MPAs in Scottish territorial and in the Scottish offshore region, respectively. To inform this process, the Scottish MPA Project was established to ensure MPAs are designated in the most appropriate locations for their particular objectives. NatureScot is responsible for providing advice on designations and need for management measures for MPAs in Scottish territorial waters, while the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) advise on these aspects in the offshore environment, including the offshore MPAs that are the topic of this assessment^[14].

Thirty Nature Conservation MPAs were formally designated by Scottish Ministers in July 2014: 17 in the inshore environment (0-12 nautical miles) and 13 in the offshore environment (12-200 nautical miles). An additional emergency MPA in Loch Carron was designated in 2017^[15], and permanently designated in May 2019. Four further inshore MPAs were designated in 2020^[16], and a deep sea marine reserve, the West of Scotland MPA, was designated in the offshore area in 2020^[17] (and Rosemary Bank Seamount MPA was revoked at the same time). Red Rocks and Longay MPA was urgently designated in the inshore area in 2021 to protect flapper skate^[18].

Scotland currently has 58 SACs with marine components, covering 8% of the Scottish sea area. Forty-seven of these SACs are in inshore waters, nine are completely in offshore waters, and a further two sites have parts in both inshore and offshore waters. Following the UK leaving the EU, the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994^[19],[20], the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017^[21], and the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017^[22], (collectively known as the Habitats Regulations) have been amended by the Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019^[23]. These changes ensure that the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive are part of UK domestic legislation, and continue to apply to how SACs are designated and protected^[24].

Requirement for and Introduction of Management Measures

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010^[25] and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009^[26] have a number of legal provisions which support the protected features of inshore and offshore MPAs respectively. This includes the need for public authorities to further the achievement of the conservation objectives of Nature Conservation MPAs where possible whilst exercising their own functions. Scottish Ministers have powers under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to implement orders relating to the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in the Scottish offshore region for the purposes of conservation marine flora, fauna, habitats, habitat types or features of geological or geomorphological interest.

Following the UK leaving the EU, the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, and the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, (collectively known as the Habitats Regulations) have been amended by the Conservation of Habitats and Species (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019^[27]. These changes ensure that the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive are part of UK domestic legislation, and continue to apply to how SACs are designated and protected^[28].

The Habitats Regulations require that SACs are managed in a way that corresponds with the ecological requirements of the habitats and species for which the sites have been designated. The manner in which these sites should be managed and protected is set out in the Habitats Regulations. In summary, the designation of these sites requires the implementation of conservation measures.

Scottish Government has been working to develop measures for the management of the MPAs since they were designated, in addition to a review and development of management measures for marine SACs^[29]. The inclusion of SACs stemmed from a re-evaluation of the implementation of the Habitats Directive^[30].

Development of Offshore Fisheries Management Measures

Prior to the UK leaving the EU, the management of offshore MPAs was administered via the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)^[31]. According to Article 11 of the CFP, EU Member States are empowered to adopt conservation measures that are necessary to comply with their obligations under Article 6 of the Habitats Directive and Article 13(4) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)^[32].

Where measures are required outwith waters where the Member State has exclusive competence, the European Commission (EC) is empowered to adopt such measures by means of delegated acts. As was required, the UK was in the process of developing Joint Recommendations to the EC, Advisory Councils and stakeholders in respect of the MPAs and SACs in the Scottish offshore region.

Scotland was required to follow this process in order to implement fisheries management measures for conservation purposes in the Scottish offshore region. This process, however, was not completed prior to the UK exiting the EU and, therefore, Scotland is now progressing offshore fisheries management using domestic process and powers.

Scottish Government, following advice from JNCC, has identified MPAs in Scottish offshore waters that are considered to require fisheries management measures to ensure that they achieve their site conservation objectives. In total, 21 of the 27 existing MPAs in the Scottish offshore region, comprising 10 SACs and 11 Nature Conservation MPAs, have been identified as requiring fisheries management measures.

The development of the proposed management measures has been informed by advice from JNCC on the sensitivity of the protected features at each site as well as on possible management options. Several sites have zonal measures, whereby only certain areas are subject to the proposed management measures and not the entirety of the site. Maps showing the extent and detail of the zonal measures are included in Appendix C.

The MPAs that are the subject of the proposed management measures are shown in Figure 1. Key protected features that occur at these sites, and the proposed fisheries management measures are summarised in Table 2.

The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 has been amended by the Fisheries Act 2020 to allow Scottish Ministers to make orders for the purpose of conserving marine flora, fauna or habitats, or features of geological or geomorphological interest. The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 will be the legislative mechanisms used to implement This is the mechanism the Scottish Government intends to use to enact the required fisheries management within the offshore MPAs and it is expected that the finalised measures will come into force in 2025.

The remaining MPAs in the offshore area that are not included in this round of management proposals are as follows:

• Three SPAs for marine birds which overlap both the inshore and offshore areas, for which management measures are being considered alongside inshore MPAs;
• Hatton Bank SAC which is managed by North-east Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEACE) and is already considered to be well managed;
• Hatton Rockall Basin MPA which is located in NEAFC waters and falls outside the existing fishing area footprint;
• North-west Orkney MPA which is designated for sandeel and does not require fisheries management measures because the seabed in this area prevents sandeel fishing from taking place; and
• Turbot Bank MPA is also designated for Sandeel, however proposed measures were initially developed for the site which would prohibit targeted Sandeel fishing across the full area. However, in 2023, the Scottish Government consulted on a closure to all fishing for Sandeel in all Scottish waters. As a result of this consultation The Sandeel (Prohibition Of Fishing) (Scotland) Order 2024 came into force on 26 March 2024 ahead of the 2024 fishery season and applies to all vessels (UK and EU) fishing within Scottish waters. Therefore no site specific management measures are proposed for this site.

Turbot Bank MPA will still feature within this assessment and the wider package of consultation documents which were prepared before the Sandeel fisheries closure. Removing the site from the documents is not considered practical at this stage. This is because in addition to site specific assessments, overall assessments have been undertaken for the impacts of implementing measures as a full package. This means within these documents 21 sites are assessed, however measures will only be proposed for 20 sites for public consultation.