Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement (IFMI): call for evidence

Part 4 – Regional inshore fisheries management

Priorities for inshore fisheries management differ around Scotland’s coast and vary depending on the available fisheries in an area as well as other factors affecting the shared marine space. Although we recognise that some aspects of fisheries management may benefit from a national approach, having a framework that supports regional variation will help enable more flexible management of inshore fisheries in the future.

There are currently a number of methods of spatially delineating Scotland’s coast when considering regional management models. For example:

• 5 Marine Directorate Coastal Operation Districts
• 18 Marine Directorate Fisheries Offices
• 6 Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFG)
• 11 Scottish Marine Regions proposed in the National Marine Plan (NMP)
• 9 Scotland Island Regions (not including mainland Scotland)
• Scientific stock assessment areas (differing per fishery)

This Call for Evidence is keen to explore to what extent regional inshore fisheries management could be used in Scotland, whether it could use existing coastline delineations, as well as potential benefits and challenges of various approaches.

Questions

For the following questions, please supply evidence or information that supports your answers where possible.

8. Do you favour or oppose a potential transition to a more regional model of inshore fisheries management in Scotland?

• Strongly favour
• Moderately favour
• Neutral
• Moderately oppose
• Strongly oppose

9. What should we be mindful of when considering the potential transition to regional inshore fisheries management in Scotland?

10. Could any of the existing coastline delineations (as outlined above) be used for regional inshore fisheries management or do we need a new/different approach/delineation?

11. Please explain why the delineation you suggested above would work better than others? What are potential benefits/strengths of this approach?

12. What are potential challenges/weakness of the delineation you suggested above?