Scottish Marine Protected Areas (MPA): monitoring strategy

1. Foreword

The Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) Monitoring Strategy develops an approach to MPA-related survey and monitoring. This is to ensure that sufficient information is collected to underpin assessment and reporting obligations. It will also enable provision of management advice at the individual site and wider network scale.

The Strategy has been developed by Marine Scotland (MS) and Marine Scotland Science (MSS), in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). It covers all Scottish Waters, from the coast to the extent of the UK Continental Shelf Claim Limits (UKCS)^[1], and all types of protected areas. More information on the scope of the Strategy can be found in Section 3.

The Strategy provides:

• direction for monitoring, assessment and reporting on the MPA network;
• guidance on standardisation of monitoring objectives, sampling design, and methodologies;
• principles for prioritising MPA-related monitoring;
• consideration of using proxy methods (e.g. pressure information) to meet requirements; and,
• recognition of the importance of collaborative and citizen-led science programmes.

The Strategy is intended to be a working document which will be reviewed on a regular basis in collaboration with partner organisations.