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

Consultation

Management proposals were developed between 2013 and 2022 with stakeholders. Scientific and conservation advice was provided by JNCC on the sensitivity of the protected features at each site and advice on management options.

Within Government

The Scottish Government has discussed its proposals with the following internal groups during the development of the policy:

• Scottish Government Sea Fisheries and Marine Conservation Division
• Scottish Government Marine Planning and Policy
• Scottish Government Marine Analytical Unit
• Scottish Government Marine Compliance
• Scottish Government Marine Science
• Scottish Government Aquaculture and Recreational Fisheries
• Scottish Government Marine Data, GIS & Quality

Conservation nature bodies JNCC and NatureScot have been consulted on these proposals, with conservation advice from both bodies helping to inform the basis of the proposed measures.

Public consultation

A formal 8-week public consultation will be undertaken.

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. In addition, a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) has also been completed to explore the potential social and economic effects of the proposed management measures. These assessments have been undertaken by external contractors ABPmer and Eftec and have been used inform and produce a Sustainability Appraisal. These assessments will be included within the public consultation. All documents will be finalised following confirmation on the fisheries management measures to be taken forward. This section will be updated following the public consultation.

Stakeholders/business

The zonal measures presented are measures that were initially developed under the EU Common Fisheries Policy with continued engagement post EU-exit to refine and develop measures as needed. The proposals for each site take into account views expressed at each workshop and aim to balance protection of the marine ecosystem against socio-economic fishing interests.

Whilst the UK was a member of the EU, Scotland was required to follow the CFP process in order to implement fisheries management measures for conservation purposes in the Scottish offshore region. This process involved fishery and environmental stakeholders from the UK and EU countries engaging in workshops, undertaking discussions with Advisory Councils and meetings with member states which held a direct management interest. However, this was not completed prior to the UK exiting the EU.

Following the EU exit, Scotland is continuing this work using domestic powers. Some amendments to those measures have been made post-2017 due to changes in available supporting evidence. Any changes were put forward for discussion with the relevant stakeholders in 2022.

Presentations on proposed measures have been given to the following organisations:

Further engagement was held with stakeholders in the form of a pre-consultation workshop in December 2022, where feedback was sought on the draft Socio-Economic Impact Assessment, draft Strategic Environmental Assessment and draft Sustainability Appraisal. Stakeholders included representatives from the fishing industry and environmental NGOs.

Meeting notes from the various engagement events are available online. Including:

• initial workshops held 2013-2015;
• workshop to address evidence changes January 2022 and
• workshop to develop measures for West Shetland Shelf MPA in 2022.