Scottish offshore marine protected areas information: EIR release

Information requested

• Please kindly provide details of meetings between Scottish Government officials and Ministers, specifically the dates, attendees and minutes of the meetings where proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas were discussed.
• Please kindly provide copies of written correspondence (email or letter) between JNCC and the Scottish Government specifically in relation to the Scottish Government’s proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas.
• Please kindly provide copies of written (email or letter) correspondence between Scottish Government officials and the Chief Scientific Adviser for Marine, specifically in relation to the Scottish Government’s proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas.
• Please provide any available earlier draft versions of the following documents:
  • JNCC updated response concerning proposed fisheries management measures for offshore MPAs in Scotland (October 2024), as published here: https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/9c17e159-8ffd-412e-a849-b3b459e04633/Scottishfisheries-management-proposals-JNCC-response.pdf
  • The further scientific advice provided by the Chief Scientific Adviser for Marine as published on 01 September 2025 here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/offshoremarine-protected-areas-mpas-proposed-fisheries-management-measures-advice-notes/

All references to “proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas” relate to those proposed in consultation between 19 August and 14 October 2024 here, and subsequently taken forward through the Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025.

Please provide the above information covering the period between 01 August 2024 – 28 August 2025 where possible.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I have split your request into four parts and will respond to each one individually.

Part 1: details of meetings between Scottish Government officials and Ministers, specifically the dates, attendees and minutes of the meetings where proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas were discussed.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested as PDF files via email.

Three meetings took place between Scottish Government officials and Ministers in the period you requested. The details of these are below:

• 15th May 2025 with Ms Gougeon and officials from the Marine Directorate. Minutes are attached as item 1.
• 22nd May 2025 with Ms Martin and officials from the Marine Directorate. Minutes are attached as item 2.
• 27th July 2025 with Ms Gougeon, Ms Martin and officials from the Marine Directorate. Minutes are attached as item 3.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal legal advice and disclosure would breach legal professional privilege.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients, to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation.

Part 2: copies of written correspondence (email or letter) between JNCC and the Scottish Government specifically in relation to the Scottish Government’s proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested as PDF files via email.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

Some of the files mentioned in the emails are publicly available therefore under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

• JNCC’s response concerning proposed fisheries management measures for offshore MPAs in Scotland (October 2024)
• Offshore Marine Protected Areas Fisheries Management Measures minutes: February 2025 - gov.scot

Part 3: copies of written (email or letter) correspondence between Scottish Government officials and the Chief Scientific Adviser for Marine, specifically in relation to the Scottish Government’s proposals for fisheries management measures in offshore marine protected areas.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the information you have requested is covered by the exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs which applies to all of the information because it is internal communication between officials about the policy development of fisheries management measures for offshore marine protected areas.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on proposed fisheries management measures in offshore Marine Protected Areas will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development.

Part 4: any available earlier draft versions of the following documents:

1. JNCC updated response concerning proposed fisheries management measures for offshore MPAs in Scotland (October 2024), as published here: https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/9c17e159-8ffd-412e-a849-b3b459e04633/Scottish-fisheries-management-proposals-JNCC-response.pdf

2. The further scientific advice provided by the Chief Scientific Adviser for Marine as published on 01 September 2025 here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/offshore-marine-protected-areasmpas-proposed-fisheries-management-measures-advice-notes/

Part 4(a)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Therefore we are refusing this part of your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

Under the terms of the exception regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because we do not hold any earlier versions of the first of these documents as this was produced by JNCC prior to being shared with the Scottish Government.

This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in earlier draft versions of these documents, we cannot provide information we do not have.

Part 4(b)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the information you have requested is covered by the exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs which applies to all of the information because it is internal communication between officials about the policy development of fisheries management measures for offshore marine protected areas.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on proposed fisheries management measures in offshore Marine Protected Areas will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500486216 - Information released - Files

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1.9 MB