Proposed West Coast of Scotland Nephrops and North Sea Nephrops: Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) - consultation

Summary of the Scottish-led Nephrops FMPs

All of our sea fish and shellfish stocks are complex to manage. The vision for all 43 UK FMPs is that the fisheries they cover are managed sustainably, to help ensure that stocks are maintained above biomass levels capable of producing maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and highlights areas that could lead to refinements to management approaches in the future.

The Nephrops FMPs have been developed by the Scottish Government, Defra and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in collaboration with the Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish) with input from industry, scientists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs).

These FMPs sets out policies and actions to continue to maintain the North Sea Nephrops and the West Coast of Scotland Nephrops stocks at sustainable levels, ensuring that they can continue to play a key role in providing positive socio-economic benefits to the UK, whilst also setting out a number of actions to improve management where this is needed. The FMPs have been developed in line with the fisheries objectives of the Act, as required by the JFS.

Nephrops are one of the limited number of shellfish species that are managed by quota in the UK. They can be found in burrowed mud and these specific areas of suitable habitat have been delineated into stock areas for assessment which are called Functional Units (FUs). There are 34 FUs for Nephrops in the Northeast Atlantic. The North Sea Nephrops FMP covers seven FUs in the North Sea area and the West of Scotland Nephrops FMP covers three FUs in the West of Scotland area. Both Nephrops FMPs should be read alongside each other.

Fishing for Nephrops in UK waters can take place as part of a targeted and also a mixed fishery. There are two distinct fisheries for Nephrops. Nephrops targeted in the West Coast of Scotland are caught using mobile gears, predominantly demersal trawls, and pots (creels). Nephrops fisheries in the North Sea are often mixed, with Nephrops caught alongside quota for whitefish such as cod, haddock, and whiting. The mixed nature of these fisheries is often critical to economic viability of individual vessels.

The UK sets the Total Allowable Catches (TAC) for the West of Scotland Nephrops and notifies it through the EU-UK bilateral. North Sea Nephrops are jointly managed stocks with quota opportunities determined through the bilateral Coastal States negotiations between the UK and the EU. The North Sea stocks are also covered by the North Sea Multi Annual Plan (MAP) (Regulation 2018/973)^[9]. The policies and actions within these FMPs reflect and respect the international management arrangements that are in place for the two Nephrops FMPs covered by this consultation.

These FMPs therefore describe a vision with policies and actions which set out how management can continue to support an MSY approach^[10] for the North Sea and the West Coast of Scotland Nephrops fisheries, and highlights areas that could lead to refinements to management approaches in the future. Areas for action include those which support the wider delivery of policies within the JFS, and which contribute to the delivery of the fisheries objectives in the Act. These FMPs also set out actions to consider options around FU management.

Status of the stocks covered by the joint Nephrops FMPs

The health of sea fish and shellfish stocks can change over time, and the ICES provides new advice on an annual basis for most stocks. The fisheries policy authorities review stocks annually and the approach to setting fishing opportunities takes account of the principles laid out in the relevant Multi Annual Plans and the sustainability objective in the Act.

It is therefore important to note that these FMPs are produced with the available evidence at the time. As far as possible, the management approach set out in the draft FMPs provides flexibility for fisheries managers to adapt to changing circumstances. Should ICES advice significantly change, or other material circumstances change, following the publication of the draft FMPs within this consultation, steps will be taken as needed to adjust the FMPs prior to final publication. Under section 8(1) of the Act, as well as the six-year (or sooner if required) review of FMPs, an FMP can also be replaced or amended at any time following a consultation allowing the plan to be kept up to date. The decision to review earlier will be taken by the fisheries policy authorities.

Nephrops fisheries in both the West of Scotland and the North Sea are managed on the basis of FUs, each corresponding to distinct mud habitats which they inhabit, and their distribution directly correlates to these mud patches.

West of Scotland Nephrops

In the West of Scotland, three predominantly inshore FUs - North Minch (FU11), South Minch (FU12), and the Firth of Clyde (FU13) - support the majority of fishing activity, however some very small volumes are caught within the area outside FUs. The scope of the West Coast of Scotland FMP applies to activities undertaken within UK waters in ICES Subarea 6, while recognising that certain policy measures, including those relevant to international negotiations, may require a wider biological stock perspective.

Presently, the Nephrops stocks size of all FUs in the West of Scotland are above their biological reference points. However, these stocks and fisheries are still vulnerable to over-exploitation because of the high dependency on Nephrops as high-value stocks of remote coastal communities/economies.

West Coast of Scotland stocks have a high level of available data, providing sufficient scientific evidence for the relevant fisheries policy authorities to make annual MSY assessments covering all West of Scotland stocks.

North Sea Nephrops

A similar management approach operates in the North Sea, where there are seven FUs that are targeted by fishers, although it should be noted that for these stocks, management takes place at an overarching North Sea level.

The seven FUs include the Farn Deeps, Firth of Forth, Moray Firth, Fladen Ground and, to a lesser extent, the Noup, Devil's Hole and Botney Cut-Silver Pit. Some FUs such as the Fladen grounds are found offshore, unlike the FUs on the West Coast which are generally inshore fisheries. Ports in northeast Scotland and northeast England are economically dependent on these fisheries, which contribute substantially to the value of landings.

North Sea Nephrops generally have a high level of data available, although some individual Nephrops stocks in the North Sea are data limited. Overall, there is sufficient available scientific evidence for the relevant fisheries policy authorities to make annual MSY assessments for the most economically and socially critical FUs. Overall, the North Sea Nephrops fisheries covered by this FMP are currently being fished sustainably, with assessed FUs showing stock health above MSY biomass reference points and fishing pressure mostly below MSY fishing mortality reference points.

Although there is sufficient available evidence to assess MSY for economically and socially critical FUs in the North Sea, it should be noted that for some FUs, and Nephrops outside of FUs in the North Sea, data is limited and MSY cannot be estimated. There are no current plans to improve data for these areas given that they do not contain the most significant economically and socially critical Nephrops stocks.

There is sufficient evidence to assess MSY for FUs 6, 7, 8 and 9 contained within the North Sea Nephrops FMP. Therefore, this FMP is required to set out policies designed to restore or maintain fish stocks to sustainable levels or contribute to the restoration or maintenance at sustainable levels. This is in line with section 6(3)(a) of the 2020 Act.

There is an insufficient evidence base for North Sea Nephrops outside FUs, and Nephrops within FUs 10, 34, and 5. Therefore, for those specific areas, this FMP falls under section 6(3)(b) of the 2020 Act. That section of the Act requires the Fisheries Policy Authorities to specify policies for maintaining or increasing levels of the stock, and to specify steps to improve the scientific evidence (or provide reasons why no steps are proposed).

As already set out within the proposed North Sea Nephrops FMP, the Fisheries Policy Authorities manage North Sea Nephrops on an overarching basis, and actions to ensure overall sustainable management across the North Sea are in place. This is generally achieved through the setting of a TAC alongside appropriate technical management measures. There are no current plans in place to improve the evidence base for those areas where current evidence is poor, rather scientific resources are concentrated on those Nephrops FUs of most importance commercially and socially.

Policies and actions for the management of UK Nephrops fisheries

The proposed FMPs, including their policies and actions which are subject to the consideration of this Consultation will be prioritised appropriately following publication to ensure realistic and measurable outputs. They were drafted with stakeholder input to meet the requirements of section 6(3) of the Act (policies 1) and the broader policies set out in the JFS (policies 2, 3,4, 5 and 6).

For each policy, the FMP sets out:

• a rationale;
• ongoing, short and longer-term actions; and
• how the actions support delivery of the fisheries objectives.

Each policy describes the outcome that is being worked towards, and the actions are intended to support the delivery of those outcomes.

As there is sufficient available evidence to assess MSY for North Sea Nephrops and the West Coast of Scotland Nephrops, the FMPs must contain policies which will at least contribute to restoring or maintaining the stock at MSY. In addition, in accordance with section 5.4 of the JFS, the design and structure of FMPs directly relate to the fisheries objectives identified in section 5.4.2 and may also address wider issues in fisheries management depending upon the specific goals or targets of each plan and may contribute to one or more of the remaining fisheries objectives.

In developing the policies and actions for this FMP, the relevant fisheries policy authorities have considered the current policy landscape including applicable international agreements and declarations, conservation advice and wider policy development underway, in addition to considering what additional evidence, measures or policies may be needed to support both the vision of this FMP and delivery of the fisheries objectives. FMPs are one of the tools that support the achievement of the fisheries objectives, although they are not the only policy vehicle available to do this. The fisheries policy authorities have also considered the conservation advice received from the SNCBs and included the outputs from that work in considering where policy action may be needed.

The FMPs will be monitored and assessed against a set of indicators to ensure the overarching outcomes and actions are effective in achieving the FMP policy goals and the requirements of the Act.

The six policies of this FMP are to:

1. Harvest Nephrops stocks sustainably, with biomass maintained above the level capable of producing MSY.

2. Understand and minimise the benthic impact of Nephrops fisheries.

3. Minimise the impact of Nephrops fishing activities on sensitive marine species by reducing bycatch and entanglement of these species.

4. Address discarding issues in the Nephrops fisheries and ensure that where possible all catches are accounted for against quotas.

5. Support fishing businesses to continue to deliver socio-economic benefits to coastal communities and the wider UK economy.

6. Reduce the impact of Nephrops fishing on climate change and support the fishing industry to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

There is significant overlap in policies between the North Sea and West of Scotland (Area 6) Nephrops FMPs; this is intentional to ensure that there is harmonisation in management approaches and delivery as far as practicable. Area specific considerations, which do not span both FMPs, are denoted in the individual FMP.

Q. 1 For the North Sea Nephrops FMP, do you agree with the proposed policies?

Q. 2: What are your views on the proposed actions for each policy in the North Sea Nephrops FMP?

Q. 3 For the West Coast of Scotland Nephrops FMP, do you agree with the proposed policies?

Q. 4: What are your views on the proposed actions for each policy in the West Coast of Scotland FMP?