Consultation on Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - Online Engagement Event Three minutes: September 2024
- Published
- 31 January 2025
- Directorate
- Marine Directorate
- Topic
- Marine and fisheries
- Date of meeting
- 10 September 2024
- Location
- Microsoft Teams
Minutes from the third online engagement event, held on 10 September 2024, in support of the consultation on fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
Attendees and apologies
- officials from Scottish Government Marine Directorate
- officials from Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
- eight external attendees, representing members of the public and organisations (these events were wholly open to the public to allow them to ask questions on the on-going consultation and the names of individuals have not been provided)
Items and actions
Introduction and presentation
A short presentation was given to attendees for background and wider context for the public consultation on fisheries management within offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
Open floor questions and statements
Timelines
The policy was initially developed under the EU process but, following official EU Exit in 2020, the policy was then progressed once the national domestic framework and legislation was in place. It was then subject to further delays as a result of Covid. Once the analysis of the consultation responses is complete, Scottish Ministers will decide on measures to take forward and the relevant orders will be laid. This is anticipated to be in 2025. The inshore fisheries management measures will be subject to public consultation following completion of statutory assessments.
Impact assessments
Due to the uncertainty and difficulty in assigning a financial value to environmental benefits, economic figures are only estimated for costs which can be directly calculated (for example, loss in value of landings). A qualitative approach is taken for the long term economic and environmental benefits.
Enforcement
The ambition is for final measures to be implemented using Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs). Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) will be the predominant tool for monitoring compliance. The orders will outline a requirement for vessels to undertake a minimum 6 knot transit speed within the sites to help identify vessels potentially fishing. We will ensure more effective compliance by extending the requirement for vessel tracking and monitoring systems across the whole commercial fishing fleet by the end of the current parliamentary session.
Engagement
Three in-person engagement events were organised in addition to five online sessions. The location of the in-person events (Lerwick, Peterhead and Fraserburgh) were selected as these were the key areas of potential home impacts as identified through the impact assessments. The format of the in-person events was a public drop-in session with officials on hand to provide support to respondents and answer queries. The online sessions provide that with the open floor portion of the event.
Actions
No actions.
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback