Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for Pelagic Fisheries Management Plans

Non-technical Summary

The draft Atlanto-Scandian Herring FMP, Northern Shelf Blue Whiting FMP, Northern Shelf Mackerel FMP, North Sea Herring FMP and West Coast of Scotland and Clyde Herring FMP, hereafter jointly referred to as “Pelagic FMPs”, have been prepared to meet the requirements of the Fisheries Act 2020, by the relevant authorities for these FMPs - the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government – with input from industry, scientists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCB). They set out the policies and proposed actions the fisheries policy authorities (DAERA, Defra, Marine Directorate and Welsh Government) will use to manage mackerel, herring and blue whiting fishing activity, so stocks are harvested within sustainable levels. Alongside these measures, the five draft Pelagic FMPs also set out policies and actions to help support wider social, economic and environmental aspects of the fishery.

This environmental report (ER) has been produced in accordance with the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (SEA Regulations 2004). The following issues (from Schedule 2, paragraph 6 of the SEA Regulations 2004) were scoped into the assessment:

• biodiversity
• fauna
• flora
• water
• climatic factors
• cultural heritage

This assessment focuses on how the policies and actions in the draft Pelagic FMPs could give rise to both significant positive and negative environmental effects. The findings of this assessment have been used to inform the development of the FMPs.

The assessment was conducted against a baseline that primarily used existing evidence on the state of the marine environment set out in the UK Marine Strategy Part 1 published in 2019. Additional sources of evidence were used to establish the status of the environment in relation to issues, such as climatic factors, not covered by the UK Marine Strategy (UK MS). The historical impact of fishing activity on the marine environment has been considered part of the baseline. Our assessment used the best available evidence to reach a suitable judgement on the environmental effects of the draft Pelagic FMPs.

This report sets out those plans, programmes and environmental protection objectives, both international and domestic that the fisheries policy authorities consider relevant to the draft Pelagic FMPs.

This report considers and acknowledges the existing environmental effects of fishing for mackerel, herring and blue whiting on those issues scoped into this assessment, in relation to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the UK MS descriptors of good environmental status (GES) for the wider marine environment, Priority Marine Features (PMFs; Scottish waters only), and climatic factors. The potential positive and negative environmental effects of the draft Pelagic FMPs’ policies and proposed actions alone and in-combination have also been assessed.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has concluded that beyond the direct impact on targeted stocks, the fishery has an impact on the marine environment primarily through bycatch of unwanted / protected species and prey reduction. Actions have been proposed to investigate these impacts and use this evidence to develop robust mitigation strategies. The contribution of pelagic fishing to fishing related litter, climate change related issues and cultural heritage were also identified as potential impacts.

The draft Pelagic FMPs have considered these impacts and set out proposals to monitor, and where required, introduce mitigation to address these impacts.

The assessment of the likely negative effects of the policies and actions did not identify any negative effects that posed a significant risk to the environment. The policies and actions, will, where appropriate, be developed to avoid any potential negative effects identified by the assessment process. The environmental effects of implementing the draft Pelagic FMPs’ policies and actions will also be monitored to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage, so appropriate remedial action can be undertaken.

This assessment recommends the draft Pelagic FMPs should consider the following additional points:

• Future iterations of the Pelagic FMPs should consider how they can develop the cultural heritage of each fishery and how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with marine heritage assets.
• The draft Pelagic FMPs would benefit from providing more specific detail on how the FMPs will interact with Marine Plans. Noting how the FMPs could positively or negatively interact with this programme would improve the in-combination assessment