Marine Protected Area Network - 2018 Report to the Scottish Parliament
A report to Parliament on progress being made in
implementing a Marine Protected Area (MPA) network.
Contribution to the UK network of conservation sites
In Scottish Waters there are currently 217 MPAs for nature conservation purposes forming part of the UK network of conservation sites[3], which consists of 666 MPAs in total. These numbers are different to those presented in the UK Government report, because they have excluded certain site types from their statistics that they didn't count in their previous report in 2012.
The area contributed to the UK network of conservation sites by these 217 MPAs exceeds 108,000 Km2 which is approximately 18% of Scotland's seas, and represents 52% of the total UK Network.
Infographic:
Infographic text:
52% of the UK MPA network is within Scottish waters
The Marine Acts include three conditions that the network must achieve:
- Contribute to the conservation or improvement of the marine environment.
- Represent the range of features present in the UK marine area.
- Reflect that the conservation of a feature may require the designation of more than one MPA.
| Marine Act conditions |
Contribution made by Scottish MPA network |
Progress |
|---|---|---|
| Contribute to conservation or improvement of marine environment |
Scotland's seas host 217 out of a total of 666 MPAs UK waters and 52% by area. All MPAs contribute to towards conservation. 24 MPAs in Scotland include objectives to restore or recover features and therefore also contribute to improvement. |
Achieved |
| Represent the range of features present in Scottish waters |
The network includes all widely distributed habitats and all rare, threatened and/or declining habitats for which MPAs could be identified. |
Achieved |
| The network includes mobile species[4] (marine mammals, birds and fish) and fronts. Potential new MPAs are being progressed for mobile species (see Looking ahead section). |
work in progress to achieve this |
|
| Reflect that the conservation of a feature may require the designation of more than one MPA |
There is replication of all the widely distributed habitats on a regional basis. The network has replication of all the rare, threatened and/or declining habitats. |
Achieved |
| There is replication of 55 of the 67 species represented in the Scottish MPA network. Potential new MPAs are being progressed for mobile species (see Looking ahead section). |
work in progress to achieve this |
Key:
Achieved
work in progress to achieve this
Further details on how habitats and species are represented and replicated is provided in Annex 5. This demonstrates the coherence of the Scottish MPA network, and the significant range of biodiversity now protected.
Contact
Email: Michael McLeod
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