Marine and fisheries compliance: fleet and aircraft

Vessels

Britain's sea fisheries have been protected and controlled by the authority of Parliament for nearly 200 years, but in 1882 responsibility for protecting Scottish waters was given to the Fishery Board for Scotland.

The first vessel that the Board took over was a former Royal Navy sailing cutter called "Vigilant", which had worked for some years on protection tasks. Over the years, new ships were added to the fishery protection fleet and responsibility for managing the task of fishery protection was transferred at different times to various Government bodies, including the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and now the Marine Directorate Compliance.

Fleet

Currently, the Marine Directorate Compliance has three ships in its fleet of Marine Protection Vessels.

MPV Minna was built at Ferguson's Shipyard, Port Glasgow and entered service in 2003. She is 48 metres in length and has a gross tonnage of 781. She has a crew of 15, a top speed of 14 knots and is used mainly for inshore enforcement tasks.

MPV Jura was also built at Ferguson's Shipyard, Port Glasgow. She was launched in 2005 and entered service in March 2006. Currently the largest vessel in the fleet - at 1 tonne heavier than the MPV Hirta - she is 84 metres in length and has a gross tonnage of 2,181. She has a crew of 17, a top speed of 18 knots and is used mainly for offshore enforcement tasks.

MPV Hirta is the newest of our ships and is the same type of ship as the MPV Jura. Built at the Remontowa Yard in Gdansk, Poland she entered service in 2008. She is 84 metres in length and has a gross tonnage of 2,181. She has a crew of 17, a top speed of 18 knots and is used mainly for offshore enforcement tasks.

Since 2019, the Marine Directorate has operated an Inshore Protection Programme (IPP). This involves two rigid-hull inflatable boats (RIBs) and operates at various seasons around the inshore Scottish mainland coast and islands. Each IPP is made up of a crew of 3.

The two IPP RIBs are identical DELTA HX Range Twin-Outboard Engine Inshore Patrol Boats. They are 8 metres in length and can operate at a speed of 40 knots. The IPP RIB’s are:

• Iona
• Ailsa

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for Aerial Surveillance

Since May 2025, Marine Directorate’s Marine Protection Vessels (MPVs) Hirta and Jura have been using vessel based short, and medium-range Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) to support fishery control operations. These systems continue to improve the capabilities of our MPVs and strengthen the Directorate’s surveillance efforts by providing aerial monitoring directly from the vessels.

RPAS are launched from the MPVs and may operate beyond visual line of sight, meaning they are not always visible during deployment.

Aircraft

Since August 2025, the Marine Directorate will no longer operate its previously owned aircraft. Aerial surveillance capabilities have transitioned to a cross-government arrangement, now delivered through the UKSAR2G service, operated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). This collaboration ensures continued high-quality aerial monitoring in support of our marine and fisheries enforcement responsibilities.

History of the SFPA surveillance fleet

File type

46 page PDF

File size

3.2 MB