Sandeel fishing consultation: strategic environmental assessment - draft environmental report

7. Appendix A: Assessment tables for scenarios identified as reasonable alternatives

Table 10: Assessment of Option 2: Extension of existing closure to all of SA4.

SEA Topic: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about moderate beneficial effects to marine biodiversity within the closure area and minor/moderate detrimental effects to marine biodiversity in other areas that support sandeel within Scottish waters. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

Benefits of this option are expected to be delivered within the region of Sandeel Area 4.

Sandeel are distributed broadly in Scottish waters (see Figure 25) although fishing effort is currently concentrated in Sandeel Area 4. If this area were to be closed to fishing, fishing effort may be displaced to novel fishing grounds outside of SA4. Sandeel provide a suitable prey source for marine species in some of these currently unexploited regions, for example regions in the North Sea outside of SA4 where a reduction in sandeel abundance has been linked to harbour seal decline. Displacement of fishing effort into novel regions therefore poses a risk to currently unexploited sandeel populations and their predators.

Long-term

The closure is expected to be permanent once in place. Due to stochasticity of fish population dynamics it is expected that any increase in the sandeel population will not be immediate. It is expected therefore that benefits to species that include sandeel as a prey source will not become apparent upon closure but may become apparent several years post-closure.

Moderate sensitivity to management measure

An increased availability of sandeel may result in benefits to species that include them as a prey source. However, many of these species are sensitive to other pressures that may be a larger driver of their population dynamics than prey availability (see Section 4.2). While an increased prey availability may incur increased resilience to other pressures, the adverse effects of external pressures may outweigh the benefits of increased prey availability achieved through the proposed management measure.

While increased prey availability is a likely outcome of the proposed management measure, other factors affecting sandeel population dynamics could outweigh the effects of fishery closure meaning that increased prey availability is not guaranteed.

SEA Topic: Water Quality, Resources, and Ecological Status

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about moderate beneficial effects to marine resources within the closure area and minor/moderate detrimental effects to marine resources in other areas that support sandeel within Scottish waters. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

Benefits of this option are expected to be delivered within the region of Sandeel Area 4.

Sandeel are distributed broadly in Scottish waters (see Figure 25) although fishing effort is currently concentrated in Sandeel Area 4. If this area were to be closed to fishing, fishing effort may be displaced to novel fishing grounds outside of SA4 which may result in depletion of sandeel and other commercially important fish stocks that predate upon sandeel in these novel grounds.

Long-term

The closure is expected to be permanent once in place, although this will be subject to views collected during consultation. Due to stochasticity of fish population dynamics it is expected that benefits to sandeel and other commercially important fish will not become apparent upon closure but may become apparent over several years post-closure.

Moderate sensitivity to management measure

The closure will likely result in benefits to sandeel and other commercially important fish. However, these species are sensitive to other pressures including climate change which may be a larger driver of population dynamics than fishing pressure (see Section 4.2).

Table 11: Assessment of Option 3: Seasonal closure of all Scottish waters.

SEA Topic: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery will bring about no additional benefits when compared to those described for the proposed management measure (see Table 8). This is because the sandeel fishery is a seasonal fishery that only takes place during the spring and summer, therefore closing it on a seasonal basis will not result in any additional benefits when compared to closing the fishery on a year-round basis.

Closing the fishery on a seasonal basis could result in moderate detrimental effects should the timing of sandeel availability to the fishery shift to outside the current fishing season, allowing sandeel to still be targeted outside the closure period.

SEA Topic: Water Quality, Resources, and Ecological Status

Assessment:

See 'biodiversity, flora and fauna'

Table 12: Assessment of Option 4: Voluntary closure of all Scottish waters.

SEA Topic: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about minor beneficial effects to marine biodiversity. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

Fishing activity in Scottish waters is currently contained within Sandeel Area 4. Therefore, although the closure area proposed is all Scottish waters, the majority of benefits are expected to be delivered within the region of Sandeel Area 4. Extension to all of Scottish waters prevents the risk of adverse effects being realised via displacement of fishing effort to novel fishing grounds outside of Sandeel Area 4.

Medium-term

Using a voluntary measure to bring about closure of the sandeel fishery would likely rely on agreement of the continuation of this measure during annual negotiations. This means that in comparison to the proposed measure there is not as strong a guarantee of a long-term closure. Due to stochasticity of fish population dynamics it is expected that any increase in the sandeel population will not be immediate. It is expected therefore that benefits to species that include sandeel as a prey source will not become apparent upon closure but may become apparent several years post-closure and may not become apparent if the closure is not implemented in the long-term.

Moderate sensitivity to management measure

An increased availability of sandeel may result in benefits to species that include them as a prey source. However, many of these species are sensitive to other pressures that may be a larger driver of their population dynamics than prey availability (see Section 4.2). While an increased prey availability may incur increased resilience to other pressures, the adverse effects of external pressures may outweigh the benefits of increased prey availability achieved through the proposed management measure.

While increased prey availability is a likely outcome of the proposed management measure, other factors affecting sandeel population dynamics could outweigh the effects of fishery closure meaning that increased prey availability is not guaranteed.

SEA Topic: Water Quality, Resources, and Ecological Status

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about minor beneficial effects to marine resources. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

Fishing activity in Scottish waters is currently contained within Sandeel Area 4. Therefore, although the closure area proposed is all Scottish waters, the majority of benefits are expected to be delivered within the region of Sandeel Area 4. Extension to all of Scottish waters prevents the risk of adverse effects being realised via displacement of fishing effort to novel fishing grounds outside of Sandeel Area 4.

Long-term

Using a voluntary measure to bring about closure of the sandeel fishery would likely rely on agreement of the continuation of this measure during annual negotiations. This means that in comparison to the proposed measure there is not as strong a guarantee of a long-term closure. Due to stochasticity of fish population dynamics it is expected that benefits to sandeel and other commercially important fish will not become apparent upon closure but may become apparent over several years post-closure and may not become apparent if the closure is not implemented in the long-term.

Moderate sensitivity to management measure

The closure will likely result in benefits to sandeel and other commercially important fish. However, these species are sensitive to other pressures including climate change which may be a larger driver of population dynamics than fishing pressure (see Section 4.2).

Table 13: Assessment of Option 0: No action taken.

SEA Topic: Biodiversity, Flora and Fauna

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about no beneficial effects to marine biodiversity and has the potential to bring about moderate/major detrimental effects. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

Fishing activity in Scottish waters is currently contained within Sandeel Area 4, which also extends into English waters. The UK government have consulted on closure of their waters to sandeel fishing. If this is agreed following consultation, then not taking measures in Scottish waters risks displacement of fishing effort into the portion of SA4 that is in Scottish waters.

Major sensitivity to management measure

A decreased availability of sandeel may result in detrimental effects to species that include them as a prey source. Many of these species are sensitive to other pressures that may be a larger driver of their population dynamics than prey availability (see Section 4.2). Decreasing prey availability has the potential to reduce the resilience of marine species to other pressures, and the combined effects may result in a larger risk than any single pressure.

While decreased prey availability is a likely outcome of taking no measure, other factors affecting sandeel population dynamics could outweigh the effects of fishery closure meaning that a decrease in prey availability could be minor.

SEA Topic: Water Quality, Resources, and Ecological Status

Assessment:

It is assessed that extending the closure of the sandeel fishery to all Scottish waters has the potential to bring about no beneficial effects to marine resources and has the potential to bring about moderate detrimental effects. This assessment takes into account the following factors:

Medium spatial scale

As above, fishing effort is likely to be displaced into the Scottish portion of Sandeel Area 4 should the UK proceed with closing all English waters to sandeel fishing.

Major sensitivity to management measure

Displacement of fishing effort into the Scottish portion of Sandeel Area 4 would result in high fishing pressure in this region, which may result in a reduction in sandeel abundance within Scottish waters.