Marine Protected Area network: 2024 report to the Scottish Parliament

6. Urgent MPAs

An MPA can be designated under section 77 of the Marine (Scotland) Act and section 119 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 when Scottish Ministers consider there to be an urgent need to do so. An urgent MPA can

only remain in place for a maximum of 2 years, after which time the site would need to be redesignated if considered necessary, following full assessment and public consultation.

Since the previous report in 2018, one MPA, Red Rocks and Longay, was designated as an urgent MPA in March 2021 and then made permanent in February 2023. Loch Carron was also desingated as a permanent MPA in 2019, having first been designated as an urgent MPA in 2017 (see Section 9 for more information).

Red Rocks and Longay MPA

Flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) was historically abundant in the North- east Atlantic and widely distributed in the seas surrounding the British Isles. However, its range has reduced significantly and catch rates declined throughout the 20th century. It is now a critically endangered species. The flapper skate now largely occurs in the northern North Sea and off Scotland's north-west coast. Little is known about flapper skate breeding grounds and breeding habits due to their rarity. Their eggs take around 18 months to hatch and are sensitive to disturbance from a number of marine activities.

The Scottish Government was initially notified of the presence of flapper skate eggs in the Inner Sound of Skye in late 2019. In order to protect this flapper skate nursery area Scottish Ministers designated, after engagement with stakeholders, an urgent MPA in the Inner Sound of Skye on 10 March 2021, called the Red Rocks and Longay MPA.

Further surveys discovered a large number of eggs outside the urgent MPA boundary and further engagement was undertaken with stakeholders in November and December 2021 on extending the MPA. Scottish Ministers determined there was a need to urgently include this additional egg laying habitat and revoked the original site and urgently re-designated the extended site which came into force on the 16 December 2021.

The public consultation on the proposed permanent designation of Red Rocks and Longay MPA closed on 26 April 2022. Responses to the consultation and associated documents have been published. Permanent designation and protection for the MPA came into force on 9 February 2023.