Marine Protected Area network: 2024 report to the Scottish Parliament

13. Forward look

Looking ahead over the next six years to 2030 our focus remains ensuring that our MPA network is effective and well-managed. As a priority this includes ongoing stakeholder engagement and consulting on the introduction of fisheries management measures for MPAs where these are not already in place, alongside those for the 11 Priority Marine Features (PMFs) most at risk from bottom trawling outside MPAs.

These measures will help to support the achievement of Good Environmental Status under the UK Marine Strategy. This work will also help to support achieving the objectives for 2030 contained in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy; in particular Objective 2 – 'Protect nature on land and at sea, across and beyond protected areas', as well as Objective 1 – 'Accelerate restoration and regeneration' and Objective 4 – 'Recover and protect vulnerable and important species'.

To deliver specific MPA actions under Objective 2, we will be assessing the MPA network in respect of the resilience of marine biodiversity to climate change, based on a regional assessment by OSPAR. We will also be developing and implementing an adaptive management framework for our MPA network by 2028.

We will continue our monitoring programme for MPAs to ensure that we have sufficient robust and reliable data to track their impact and take evidence- based decisions on the management of marine activities.

To strengthen monitoring and compliance of MPAs in relation to fishing activity, several control measures are being explored. These include increased transmission rates of VMS data, inshore tracking on vessels below 12 metres, remote electronic monitoring on Pelagic vessels, and trials on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

We also aim to shortly respond to the consultation on proposals to designate two new Historic MPAs for nationally important heritage sites at Scapa Flow in Orkney and the Queen of Sweden in Shetland.