Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - fisheries management measures: fisheries assessment – Wyville-Thomson Ridge SAC

6. Monitoring and review

Scottish Ministers will review this assessment as required. A review of this assessment may be required 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, and to ensure that any required management is put in place, a monitoring and control plan may be developed for this site.

Following consultation, JNCC highlighted recent studies (Gall et al., 2020; Rees, 2018) that indicate potential negative effects of high-density demersal static gear on the biological functions of Annex I stony and bedrock reef habitats. These studies focus on inshore reef areas with relatively high levels of static gear use. In contrast, offshore reef features are generally subject to lower levels of fishing effort relative to their size. Within this assessment, static gear activity was shown to occur within certain areas of the site, peaking in intensity at 12 to 24 hours per year. This evidence has been considered in relation to site activity within the assessments. This evidence will continue to be taken into account through MPA activity monitoring.

Since consultation, JNCC have also 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.