Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Proposed Priority Marine Feature (PMF) Management Areas - Site and Area Proposal Document

16. Sites in the Solway Region

16.1 Solway Firth SPA

16.1.1 Description and background

The Solway Firth SPA is located on the west coast of Great Britain, straddling the border between Scotland and England. The SPA includes the previously designated Upper Solway Flats and Marshes together with a marine extension, forming an extensive system of coastal and offshore habitats.

The site is characterised by extensive intertidal mudflats and sandflats, fringing saltmarshes and grazing marsh, and shallow marine waters with offshore sediments and sandbanks formed by strong tidal currents. The estuary is predominantly shallow in its inner areas, with water depths increasing towards the outer firth and the north‑eastern Irish Sea. These habitats form one of the most extensive and dynamic estuarine systems in the UK, supporting a wide range of ecological processes.

The SPA supports internationally important populations of wintering waterbirds, including red‑throated diver, whooper swan, barnacle goose, bar‑tailed godwit and golden plover, along with a range of other migratory species. Notably, the site supports the entire Svalbard population of barnacle geese during the winter, as well as a large assemblage of waders and wildfowl. These populations form part of a wider waterbird assemblage regularly exceeding tens of thousands of individuals, reflecting the site’s international importance.

The SPA encompasses intertidal, coastal and adjacent marine habitats that support the full range of activities undertaken by these species. Intertidal flats provide important feeding grounds, while saltmarshes and coastal areas offer roosting and loafing habitat. The inclusion of shallow marine waters ensures connectivity between these habitats and supports the feeding and movement requirements of waterbirds, maintaining the ecological processes and prey resources on which they depend.

This consultation is only proposing fisheries management measures for the Scottish portion of the SPA.

Further information, including Conservation and Management Advice (CMA) can be found on Sitelink.

Further information on MPAs, the wider network and protected areas management is available at Scottish Government MPA policy page.

16.1.2 Protected features

The Solway Firth SPA has been designated to protect:

• Barnacle goose;
• Bar-tailed godwit;
• Black-headed gull;
• Common gull;
• Common scoter;
• Cormorant;
• Curlew;
• Dunlin;
• Golden plover;
• Goldeneye;
• Goosander;
• Grey plover;
• Herring gull:
• Knot;
• Lapwing;
• Oystercatcher;
• Pink-footed goose;
• Pintail;
• Red-throated diver;
• Redshank;
• Ringed plover;
• Sanderling;
• Scaup;
• Shelduck;
• Shoveler;
• Teal;
• Turnstone; and
• Whooper swan

Barnacle goose, bar-tailed godwit, curlew, dunlin, golden plover, grey plover, knot, lapwing, oystercatcher, pink-footed goose, pintail, redshank, ringed plover, sanderling, shelduck, shoveler, teal, turnstone and whooper swan are not discussed further as they are not a protected feature for which fisheries management measures are required.

The protected features of the Solway Firth SPA are protected within the SPA throughout the year, irrespective of the season for which they qualified as a protected feature.

16.1.3 Conservation Objectives

The following protected features are in favourable condition at the Solway Firth SPA: common scoter, goosander, cormorant, black-headed gull, common gull, red-throated diver and herring gull. Therefore, the Conservation Objectives seek to maintain this condition.

The following protected features are in unfavourable condition at the Solway Firth SPA:, scaup and goldeneye. Therefore, the Conservation Objectives seek to restore the condition for the above species

Additional details, including the Conservation Objectives are provided in the Conservation and Management Advice document produced for this SPA and can be found on Sitelink.

16.1.4 Pressure from fishing activity

Divers (red‑throated, great northern, black‑throated), Slavonian grebes, scaup, scoters, goldeneye, goosanders, cormorants, and gulls are all sensitive to accidental bycatch and entanglement in fishing gears. Mortality from nets and set gears is a major direct threat, particularly for benthic feeders such as scaup and scoters, which forage near the seabed where fishing activity occurs. These interactions reduce survival and can have population‑level impacts, especially during sensitive periods such as moulting when birds are flightless and unable to avoid gear.

All protected features are also sensitive to prey depletion and habitat modification linked to fishing. Loss of bivalves and other benthic prey through harvesting, dredging, or habitat alteration reduces food availability and body condition. Scaup are particularly dependent on mussel and cockle beds, while divers rely on fish availability. Reduced prey resources directly affect breeding success, winter survival, and resilience.

Disturbance and displacement associated with fishing vessels and activity add further pressures. Divers, ducks, mergansers and gulls all show behavioural sensitivity to vessel movements, often taking evasive action or being displaced from feeding areas. Visual and noise disturbance reduces foraging efficiency, while turbidity from dredging impairs prey detection for divers and other benthic feeders.

Additional details are provided in the Conservation and Management Advice document produced for this SPA (section 6) and can be found on Sitelink.

Other resources include:

• The Feature Activity Sensitivity Tool (FeAST) which allows users to investigate the sensitivity of marine features (habitats, species, geology and landforms) in Scotland's seas, to pressures arising from human activities;
• Fisheries Guidance Notes which provide summaries of evidence on the interaction between fishing gears and specific habitats and species. 

16.1.5 Fisheries management advice relevant to proposed fisheries management measures

NatureScot provides risk-based advice to help manage activities that may impact protected features and their Conservation Objectives. See section 2.3 for more detail. The CMA document also sets out the full fisheries management advice that has been summarised below for the management measures proposed:

Hydraulic gear

Remove or avoid pressures (removal of prey species and disturbance of prey-supporting habitat) associated with hydraulic fishing that has the potential to damage seabed habitat (in particular, sandeel habitat) is recommended.

Static Gear (drift nets and bottom set nets including fyke nets)

Red-throated diver. Remove or avoid pressures (entanglement) associated with the use of all static nets. Spatial exclusion of static nets in areas identified as being important for red-throated diver (as identified from habitat and dive depth preferences) between mid-September and May is recommended.

Common scoter, greater scaup and common goldeneye. Remove or avoid pressures (entanglement) associated with the use of all static nets. Spatial exclusion of static nets in areas identified as being important for seaduck (as identified from habitat and dive depth preferences) between August and May is recommended.

Goosander and cormorant. Remove or avoid pressures (entanglement) associated with the use of all static nets. Spatial exclusion of static nets in areas identified as being important for goosander and cormorant (as identified from habitat and dive depth preferences) is recommended.

Pelagic gear

Pelagic fishing for herring/sprat may occur within or around the SPA. It is recommended that a principal objective of the management of the fishery should be ensuring that the fishing activity does not prevent or disrupt the availability of prey species for divers, goosander, cormorant or herring gull i.e. it should be considered as part of a broader ecosystem-based approach to management of this fishery.

For the SPAs advice has also been provided on maximum dive depth and seasonality for protected features of each site and can be found in the Fishing Activity Further Advice and Evidence document. Supplementary advice can also be found on NatureScot’s website.

16.1.6 Proposed fisheries management measures

The proposed management measures for Solway Firth SPA are as follows:

Option 1

• Set nets (including fyke nets) prohibited in areas down to 33m based on presence and maximum dive depth for cormorant
• Demersal set nets (including fyke nets) prohibited from July till the end of April and pelagic set nets prohibited in areas down to 63m based on presence of cormorant and scoter and maximum dive depth for scoter
• Bass exemption areas where set nets (including fyke nets) prohibited except gillnets from April till the end of August used to catch bass and not left longer than 24 hours. (areas only apply to vessels that have a bass licence, all other vessels, set nets and fyke nets prohibited)
• Full site closure to hydraulic dredge

Option 2

• Full site closure to set nets (including fyke nets) and hydraulic dredge

Rationale for developed measures

The basis for the proposed fisheries management measures for each site has been determined by the management advice for fishing activities provided by NatureScot, which can be found on their website or Sitelink as signposted throughout this document. The Fisheries Assessment for each site assesses the impacts from existing fishing activities on the protected features using the tests from the legislation relevant for the type of MPA being considered. The assessment outlines how the proposed measures address any impacts identified that could hinder the conservation objectives of the MPA.

16.1.7 Other fisheries management measures currently applying to this site

There are already management measures in place. An effort has been made to identify existing measures which affect each individual site or area, however the list may not be exhaustive. These measures are outlined below, and the proposals for further management being consulted on now are in addition to these existing measures:

• Fishing for sandeel is prohibited within the Scottish zone, which is defined as the sea adjacent to Scotland up to the 200 nautical miles limit.
• Fishing for sea fish with creels in over 12m vessel prohibited in part of the site.
• Fishing for king scallops by any British-owned fishing boat is prohibited in the site between 1^st July and 31^st October (inclusive).
• Fishing for cockles, by any method or means, is prohibited in part of the site.

There are other conservation measures outlined in section 7 of the CMA.