Marine and coastal restoration plan: business and regulatory impact assessment

Executive summary

Issue and why it needs to be addressed

Scottish Government have a statutory duty to ensure Good Environmental Status (GES) in Scotland’s waters. While the latest assessment shows encouraging signs of recovery for some descriptors, GES has not been achieved overall and it is clear that more remains to be done^[1]. There is a need to significantly increase restoration efforts over the next decade to support the achievement of GES and to improve the health of Scotland's coastal and marine ecosystems.

To tackle the nature-climate crisis in Scotland the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Delivery Plan has set out priority actions to accelerate restoration and regeneration. In order to move towards this objective, a Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan has been developed, setting out Scottish Government's aims and objectives and associated actions for accelerating active restoration in Scotland.

Intended outcomes

The plan will support the development of active restoration across Scotland’s marine and coastal environments and will address concerns raised in the previous consultation on legislative proposals. In this first plan, specific areas and targets will not be set out but instead the plan will provide support and guidance on where restoration could happen and how we can prioritise species and habitats. The plan will seek to contribute to improving Good Environmental Status and maximise ecological, social, and economic benefits.

A public consultation helped to further inform the objectives of the plan and resulting actions. The actions may be led by the government, by others such as regulators and restoration groups, or through a combination of both.

Options

This BRIA considers the following options:

• option 1 outlines the ‘do nothing’ option if the plan were not published and restoration was not accelerated in Scotland
• option 2 outlines the chosen approach to publish the plan and considers the actions put forward as part of the plan
• option 3 outlines the actions that were considered for the plan but not taken forward. Actions not taken forward were due to reasons such as resource constraints and/or feasibility and may still be taken forward in future iterations of the plan

Sectors affected

There is potential for impacts on a range of sectors and groups if there is an increase/acceleration in restoration activity as a result of the plan. This includes organisations and groups directly involved in undertaking marine restoration activities, and “traditional” marine sectors such as fishing, aquaculture, energy industries, marine and coastal tourism. The extent to which sectors are affected will differ, but it is expected that the outcomes of the plan will predominantly create positive effects, both directly and indirectly across Scotland.

Engagement completed, ongoing and planned

Completed engagement has included internal discussions across various policy areas within Scottish Government, and ongoing engagement with government agency NatureScot to inform plan development. Pre-consultation workshops were held in February and March 2025 with a stakeholder advisory group representing a range of sectors. A formal 12-week public consultation was held by Scottish Government online as well as in-person information events at locations across Scotland from July to October 2025.

Anticipated impacts (intended and unintended, positive and negative) and mitigating actions

The plan and its intended outcomes may bring additional costs to business. However, this is likely to be more than offset by other aspects of the plan. There are certain outcomes that are likely to have negligible impacts and therefore have not been quantified in this BRIA. Where a quantitative assessment has not been possible a qualitative approach has been taken. Public sector costs where possible have been quantified and have been highlighted under the relevant theme. With an increase in restoration activities and the potential for more successful restoration, there will be increased benefits to the marine environment, ecosystem benefits, and benefits other sectors, for example, through employment, skill building and knowledge exchange. The public consultation further informed development of the plan and the final package of objectives and actions included in the plan.

Enforcement/Compliance

It is not anticipated that the objectives and actions within the plan will require compliance or enforcement at the time of publication. Compliance and enforcement provisions for any legislative protection mechanism for restoration would need to be considered at the time the mechanism was developed.

Recommendations/Implementation Plans

This BRIA outlines the options considered during the development of the plan. The objectives and actions included in the plan were informed by engagement with a stakeholder advisory group and via a public consultation.

Evaluation and Monitoring of implementation/Review of BRIA

The objectives and actions in the plan will be achieved and implemented over differing timescales. Further discussions with the stakeholder advisory group will explore how best the group can support the implementation as it commences, as well as any potential ongoing role in delivering the plan. The plan is intended to be reviewed regularly as part of a five-year reviewing cycle to assess the effectiveness and success of the objectives and actions. When the plan is reviewed the BRIA will be revisited as required.