Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report

Introduction

Background

The Scottish Government has made a long-term commitment to ensuring the sustainable management of the marine environment by balancing the competing interests of use and protection of the sea. This reflects their vision for the marine environment of “clean, healthy, safe, productive and diverse seas; managed to meet the long term needs of nature and people”^[7]. The commitment includes a number of protective designations. These include Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas^[8],[9],[10] (NCMPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation^[11],^[12] (SACs) (hereafter these MPAs and SACs will be referred to as MPAs when they are being considered collectively). These designations arise from domestic legislation, including legislation that implemented the requirements of European Union (EU) Directives prior to the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the EU, as well as wider UK and international legislation focused on building a cohesive network of protected areas to benefit the conservation of vulnerable and characteristic marine species and habitats.

There are 58 SACs with marine components in Scotland, 47 of which are wholly in inshore waters^[13], nine are completely in offshore waters^[14], and a further two sites which have parts in both inshore and offshore waters. In addition, the Scottish Government has designated 36 Nature Conservation MPAs under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 in inshore and offshore waters, respectively.

In line with the relevant legislation, suitable management measures must be implemented at each site to conserve the protected features. The first phase of fisheries management measures for 20 inshore MPAs (comprising 10 NCMPAs and 10 SACs) were finalised and implemented in early 2016. The Scottish Government has made a commitment to deliver fisheries management measures for existing MPAs where these are not already in place. These measures will give protection for MPA features. This includes fisheries management measures for 21 offshore MPAs (comprising 11 NCMPAs and 10 SACs) which are now also in development and need to be implemented to ensure the site conservation objectives are achieved. The location of these sites are shown in Figure 1.

The proposed consultation on and implementation of fisheries management measures at the 21 offshore MPAs shown in Figure 1 are the subject of this Environmental Report, produced as part of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). For the purposes of clarity, Nature Conservation MPAs and SACs are referred to as MPAs when they are being considered collectively in this report.

Strategic environmental assessment

The SEA has been undertaken in line with The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (“the 2004 Regulations”) which require that certain public plans, programmes and strategies be assessed for their potential effects on the environment^[15].

A screening and scoping exercise of the proposed offshore fisheries management measures options was undertaken by Scottish Government in line with the requirements of 2004 Regulations. A combined Screening and Scoping Report was published in March 2022, setting out the proposed approach to the SEA, including the proposed scope and level of detail. Comments were invited from the Scottish Consultation Authorities^[16].

The outcome from the Screening and Scoping Report and the consultation responses confirmed the need for an SEA as there is potential for significant environmental effects to occur as a direct result of proposed management measures. The proposed scope of the assessment and assessment methods were broadly accepted by the Scottish Consultation Authorities (see Section 3).

Scottish Government commissioned ABP Marine Environmental Research Ltd. (ABPmer) to undertake the assessment stage of the SEA and prepare this Environmental Report.

Purpose and structure of this report

The purpose of this Environmental Report is to document the findings of the SEA on the implementation of the proposed fisheries management measures at the 21 offshore MPAs. A Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) has also been undertaken and is reported separately. The key findings of both the SEA and the SEIA are summarised in an overall Sustainability Appraisal (SA) document.

The views of the public and the Consultation Authorities on the proposed management measures and the findings of this Environmental Report are now being sought.

The remainder of this Environmental Report is structured as follows:

• Section 2 provides background information on the proposed management measures and their policy context;
• Section 3 presents the approach to the SEA and the methods used;
• Section 4 describes the relevant components of the environment that could be affected by the proposed management measures;
• Section 5 sets out the results of the assessment; and
• Section 6 considers the next steps in the implementation of the proposed measures and the SEA process.

The Non-Technical Summary precedes Section 1.