Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - fisheries management measures: fisheries assessment – North West Rockall Bank SAC

6. Monitoring and review

Scottish Ministers will review this assessment as required. A review of this assessment may be in response to updated conservation advice; updated advice on the condition of the feature; new information on the sensitivity of the feature to pressures arising from activities within the site; or information on changes in fishing activity within the site.

To coordinate the collection and analysis of information regarding activity levels a monitoring and control plan may be developed for this site. Although management measures for static gear are not currently considered for this site, should activity levels increase, or monitoring showed evidence of detrimental effects, management measures may need to be reassessed.

Since consultation, JNCC have noted that full site restrictions would improve the likelihood of meeting site conservation objectives related to demersal mobile gear. However, they also noted, in the relevant Management Option Papers, that a suitable approach could involve excluding demersal gear from key reef areas while allowing fishing in surrounding fishable zones. This Fisheries Assessment evaluates the spatial and temporal distribution of fishing activity in relation to site features and concludes that zonal measures are also considered sufficient to prevent an adverse effect on site integrity from current levels of fishing activity. If new evidence indicates additional reef areas outside the management zones, this will need to be reviewed and considered as needed.