Draft Inshore Marine Protected Areas Fisheries Assessment Methodology Report

Objective of draft Fisheries Assessments

The Scottish Government’s vision for the marine environment is of clean, healthy, safe, productive and diverse seas; managed to meet the long-term needs of nature and people. To help achieve this, Scottish Ministers are committed to delivering management measures for fishing activities impacting on existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where these are not already in place and where it is appropriate to do so.

Scotland’s Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are areas which have been designated (or classified) under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended) for inshore waters and the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) for offshore waters, hereafter referred to as the Habitats Regulations. Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (NCMPAs) are areas designated under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.

The primary objective of the draft Fisheries Assessments is identifying and considering, as appropriate, the risks to SACs, SPAs and NCMPAs arising from relevant commercial fishing activities, in view of their conservation objectives.

Scottish Ministers have taken an evidence-based approach to developing fisheries management measures for SACs, SPAs and NCMPAs which aims to manage sites to meet the needs of the protected features, their conservation objectives and site integrity, whilst allowing sustainable use to continue.

Fisheries Assessments have therefore been prepared for SACs, SPAs and NCMPAs to inform this process. These are currently in draft and will be finalised following public consultation and a decision on the measures that will be implemented.

The draft Fisheries Assessments use the best available evidence to consider impacts from relevant fishing activities (those activities currently operating within the sites) against the conservation objectives for the sites, and to consider options to manage, as appropriate, any relevant risks. The pressures caused by these fishing activities, and for which management measures are considered, are referred to as existing pressures.

For relevant fishing activities within SACs or SPAs, the draft Fisheries Assessments contain draft Habitats Regulations Appraisals, following the process detailed in regulation 48 and regulation 28 of the inshore and offshore Habitats Regulations respectively. This process provides for an appropriate assessment to be undertaken for any plan or project proposed which is not directly connected with or necessary to the management of an SAC or SPA, and which is likely to have a significant effect on that site. In the context of the draft Fisheries Assessments, the relevant fishing activities within SACs and SPAs are considered to be the plan or project.

All relevant fishing activities within a site were screened to determine whether they would have a likely significant effect on the SAC or SPA in question. Those identified as such were subject to an appropriate assessment of their risk to that site’s conservation objectives. The appropriate assessments considered whether it was possible to ascertain that the activities did not adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned. In the event it was not possible to do so, potential fisheries management measures within a site, and their impacts on the fishing activities, were considered.

The Habitats Regulations do not apply to NCMPAs. Scottish Ministers have, nevertheless, set out within draft Fisheries Assessments for those NCMPAs under consideration, a detailed assessment of the impacts of relevant fishing activities within NCMPAs. These assessments determine whether relevant fishing activities within a site were capable of affecting the protected features of the site, other than insignificantly, and if so, whether they posed a significant risk of hindering the achievement of the conservation objectives for the NCMPA. Potential fisheries management measures were then identified and their impacts on the relevant fishing activities considered.

In addition, for SACs, SPAs and NCMPAs, possible options for management measures have also been identified to counter potential pressures arising from activities not currently occurring within sites at levels of concern, but which could nevertheless pose a risk to protected features and conservation objectives going forward.

The pressures which could be caused by these fishing activities, and for which management measures, where appropriate, are included, are referred to as potential pressures. Whilst these potential pressures are not considered as part of any appropriate or detailed assessment set out within the draft Fisheries Assessments, various sources of evidence have been considered to support an assessment of the need for, and the development of options for, management measures. These sources include but were not limited to: (i) fisheries assessments for the same protected feature in other sites; and (ii) advice from the relevant Statutory Nature Conservation Body (NatureScot and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).