Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (Northern North Sea) - Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Purpose and Intended Effect

Background

The Scottish Government Blue Economy Vision, and long-term commitment is that Scotland’s shared stewardship of our marine environment supports ecosystem health, improved livelihoods, economic prosperity, social inclusion and wellbeing. This includes that Scotland’s marine and coastal environments are restored, adapted and resilient to climate change whilst being sustainably managed to achieve good environmental status.

In line with this vision, The Scottish Government has national and international commitments to protect marine biodiversity, and to take necessary measures to protect and conserve the marine ecosystem. Scotland’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) network (made up of multiple protected area designations) helps protect our most important natural and cultural heritage features. Implementing fisheries management measures in MPAs within the Scottish offshore region will help to achieve this.

There are national and international commitments for Scotland and the UK to support an MPA network which contributes to conservation or improvement of the marine environment such as;

• The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010
• The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009
• The Convention on Biological Diversity
• The World Summit on Sustainable Development
• The OSPAR Convention
• UK Marine Strategy
• 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

We manage the network under the principles of sustainable use and by doing so we protect the natural goods and services they provide for current and future generations to enjoy. By protecting our natural capital, we protect and support the services provided by healthy, productive and biodiverse marine ecosystems, building resilience into marine industries and strengthening food security. Scottish Ministers have committed to delivering fisheries management measures for existing MPAs where these are not already in place.

Throughout this document, the term MPA is used to collectively refer to two types of designations for sites in place for nature conservation. In this case, those sites are Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (NCMPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).

Fisheries management measures will mean that only certain types of fishing are permitted within the protected area, and the measures proposed will depend on the protected feature and conservation objective of the MPA. The proposed measures are outlined in further detail in Table 1.

Objective

The Scottish Government proposes to implement fisheries management measures at 10 SACs and 10 NCMPAs within the Scottish offshore region. The offshore region (12-200 nautical miles) extends from the limit of the territorial sea to the UK Continental Shelf Claim Limit. The aim of this policy is to manage the MPAs in the Scottish offshore region in a way that conservation objectives can be achieved, and support sustainable use of our marine environment. The sites in question have been designated following MPA selection guidelines and assigned site specific conservation objectives.

There is a legislative requirement for the Scottish Ministers to take conservation measures in SACs in a way that corresponds with the ecological requirements of the habitats and species for which the sites have been designated. In doing so, under The Conservation of Offshore Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 they are required to have regard to the need to maintain or restore the protected features of the site to favourable conservation status; the economic, social and cultural requirements and regional and local characteristics; and any management scheme which has been established for the site.

For NCMPAs, under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and Marine Scotland Act 2010, Scottish Ministers have a duty to exercise functions which could significantly affect an NCMPA in a manner that best furthers the conservation objectives of the site (or where that is not possible, least hinders the achievement of the objectives).

This BRIA focuses on the 10 sites which are located in the North North Sea (NNS). A separate BRIA has been compiled for the remaining 11 sites in North West waters. Table 1 highlights the protected features, the Conservation Objectives and the three proposed options for fisheries management measures for each of the 10 sites assessed in this BRIA.

Evidence in this BRIA is drawn from the work of consultants ABPmer and Eftec. It brings together the scientific, evidence based arguments for management and the projected potential social and economic consequences of such action.

The appraisal period for assessing the socioeconomic impacts of both options covers the 20 year period from 2023 to 2042, although benefits are expected to be delivered for longer if effective management measures remain in place. As with any socio-economic assessment related to environmental designations, the findings should be considered as estimates, and in industries where uncertainty exists such as for fisheries due to the natural variability in external factors on which they depend, impacts are deliberately presented as worst-case scenarios to build in necessary caution into each scenario.

Proposed measures were developed for Turbot Bank MPA which would prohibit targeted Sandeel fishing across the full site. 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 Scottish Government has prohibited fishing for Sandeel in all Scottish waters. 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.

Subsequently, we are no longer proposing site specific measures for Turbot Bank MPA and measures are not included within this consultation. The site will still feature within the package of consultation documents as removing the site 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.

*As of March 2024 measures are no longer proposed for Turbot Bank, however the site is still captured within the impact assessments. Further details are provided above.

Rationale for Government Intervention

Scotland’s marine environment provides a wide range of social, environmental and economic benefits to people. Some of these benefits are direct and tangible, for example fish for human consumption or tourism and recreational opportunities. There are also other less tangible benefits such as the important role different species and habitats play in nutrient cycling and climate regulation.

Protecting our natural capital supports the services provided by healthy, productive and biodiverse marine ecosystems, including building resilience into marine industries and strengthening food security. The Dasgupta review on the Economics of Biodiversity highlights that our economies, livelihoods and well-being are all dependent on nature, including the marine environment^[1].

By protecting defined areas of Scotland’s marine environment, MPAs provide a significant number of supporting services. These services are the foundation for all other ecosystem services. Perhaps most significantly is the support that these services provide for provisioning services, such as the protection of features, which in turn provide habitats for larval and juvenile life stages of marine species^[2]. The potential management measures for the proposed MPAs could increase the level of several provisioning services. Gubbay (2006) noted positive species community effects such as greater complexity of food webs and increase primary and secondary productivity in MPAs as a consequence of protection.

The capacity of the marine environment to continue providing these benefits to people in Scotland is at risk due to market failures:

Public goods – Many of the benefits associated with the marine environment have ‘public good’ characteristics, which means they are non-excludable (no one can be excluded from enjoying the benefits) and non-rivalrous (enjoyment of the benefits provided to one person does not diminish the benefits available to others. These characteristics mean that private individuals do not have the incentive to ensure the continued flow of these benefits, which can lead to their under-provision in the absence of any government intervention.

Externalities - Externalities occur when the actions of an individual leads to benefits or costs to others that are not accounted for in market prices. The environmental damage from marine users’ activities is often unaccounted for in the price of the goods they sell (e.g., wild fish). This means that these marine users do not have the incentive to internalise the full social costs of their actions.

The protection of species and habitats in the marine environment is currently underprovided by markets as a result of these market failures. This creates rationale for government intervention to increase the protection afforded to these species and habitats.

The Scottish Government has a long-term commitment to ensure the sustainable management of the marine environment. Looking after the seas requires a range of different management approaches to ensure that society can continue to derive the many natural benefits that our seas provide. MPAs have an important role to play in supporting this commitment. They enable the focused protection of habitats and species which are essential to the marine ecosystem. Beyond the benefits provided for nature conservation, these areas facilitate an increase in ecosystem resilience and recovery^[3].

The Scottish Government has committed to implementing fisheries management measures for existing MPAs where these are not already in place. This policy proposal fulfils duties in domestic legislation (including legislation that implements the requirements of EU Directives), as well as contributing to the management of UK and international networks of marine protected areas.

The relevant domestic legislation is the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 which places a duty on the relevant public authority to exercise its functions in a manner that best furthers the conservation objectives of the site (or where that is not possible, least hinders the achievement of the objectives). The Conservation of Offshore Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 outlines a requirement for SACs to be managed in a way that maintains or restores the protected feature to favourable conservation status.

Under the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 Scottish Ministers have a duty to designate MPAs which contribute to a UK network of protected marine sites. SACs designated under The Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 also contribute to the Scottish MPA network.

By implementing fisheries management measures in our MPAs we also contribute to and support a number of additional national and international commitments and obligations such as:

• work towards the outcomes of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy outcomes: Protected areas will be larger, better connected and in good condition and that natural capital will be embedded in policy making;
• contribute to the achievement of Good Environmental Status under the UK Marine Strategy;
• contribute to the National Performance Framework by supporting marine elements of the biodiversity, and protected site indicators for the Environmental National Outcomes. These measures will also support the economic objective for natural capital;
• Scotland’s National Marine Plan;
• Joint Fisheries Statement and Fisheries Act;
• help deliver the UK Contribution to Ecologically Coherent MPA Network in the North East Atlantic;
• work towards the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and Convention on Biological Diversity targets of 2030 for 30% of marine and coastal areas are “effectively conserved and managed, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes”;
• and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources).

Following the conclusion of this consultation process, Scottish Ministers will decide upon the fisheries management measures to take forward. It is intended that the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 will be the legislative mechanisms used to implement those measures.