Proposed Fisheries Management Measures within Scottish Inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and proposed Priority Marine Feature (PMF) Management Areas - Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

Introduction

The Scottish Government (SG) has made a long-term commitment to support the sustainable management of the marine environment. This includes developing and implementing a coherent network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to benefit the conservation of vulnerable and characteristic marine species and habitats in Scottish waters.

• MPAs are sites containing habitats and species that have been identified as being of conservation importance to Scotland, most are a subset of the species and habitats identified on national, UK or international lists.

Through this document, the term MPA is used to collectively refer to three types of designations for sites in place for nature conservation. Those sites are Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (NCMPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

• NCMPAs are sites within the marine environment aimed at conserving marine biodiversity, protecting vulnerable species, habitats, and geological features. The sites have been designated following MPA selection guidelines and assigned site specific conservation objectives.
• Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) - which are protected areas for habitats and species listed in the EU Habitats Directive, such as reefs and bottlenose dolphin.
• Special Protection Areas (SPAs) - which are protected areas for wild birds listed in the EU Wild Birds Directive, or for regularly occurring migratory species.

In addition, the Scottish Government are committed to protecting the 11 Priority Marine Features (PMFs) most sensitive to mobile bottom-contacting fishing activity outside the MPA network through proposed PMF management areas. The development of options for the proposed PMF management areas has been guided by policies of the Scottish Government’s National Marine Plan (NMP), including General Policy 9, which states that use of the marine environment must not result in significant impact on the national status of PMFs.

These 11 PMFs are:

• blue mussel beds
• cold water coral reefs
• fan mussel aggregations
• flame shell beds
• horse mussel beds
• maerl beds
• maerl or coarse shell gravel with burrowing sea cucumbers
• native oysters
• northern sea fan and sponge communities
• seagrass beds
• serpulid aggregations

The MPAs and proposed PMF management areas may also be referred to as “sites” and “areas”.

The proposed fisheries management measures under consideration have been developed using the best available scientific evidence on the risk to designated features and the 11 PMFs identified as being most sensitive to bottom contacting mobile fishing gear. Across all Scottish Marine Regions (SMRs), where options for fisheries management measures have been developed, three management options were considered.

MPAs:

• Option 1 - zonal management measures for specified gears. These measures may be seasonal and there are also measures that only apply to vessels over a certain engine power.
• Option 2 - measures restricting specified fishing gears across the full site for the whole year.
• Option 3 is the ‘Do nothing’ option; this is the baseline scenario. Under this option, there is no change to the management measures already in place or in most cases no management measures at all.

PMF management areas:

Both options propose full area closures to all demersal mobile gear. 44 out of 90 areas have a single management option proposed. Only one option was identified for these 44 proposed PMF management areas due to one of, or combination of, evidence (fishing activity or PMF related), boundary setting principles and compliance considerations.

• Option 1 - reflects a smaller footprint that reflects one, or a combination of evidence (fishing activity or PMF related), boundary setting principles and compliance considerations
• Option 2 - reflects a larger footprint that offers improved protection.

Option 1 and option 2 present different levels of management and are being presented for consultation. Following consultation, they will be considered against the relevant legislative provisions in the light of consultation responses. Option 3, no additional management, is not considered a viable option and will not be presented at consultation as there are legislative drivers for implementing proposed fisheries management measures in Scottish MPAs and a duty to act in accordance with the NMP in relation to PMFs.

Evidence in this ICIA is drawn from the work of Scottish Government Marine Analytical Unit (MAU), statutory nature conservation body NatureScot, consultants ABPmer and eftec. Evidence is comprised of scientific, evidence-based arguments for management and projected potential social and economic consequences of such action.

A Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) has been conducted to investigate the possible social and economic impacts of the suggested management measures. External contractors ABPmer Ltd and eftec Ltd carried out these assessments, which have contributed to the development of a Sustainability Appraisal. The methodology used was codesigned with stakeholders and uses the best available evidence and data. This data feeds into this ICIA.

As with any socio-economic assessment related to environmental designations where variability exists, the findings on impacts are deliberately presented as worst-case scenarios and should be considered as estimates.

These sites and areas are part of efforts to maintain the health of marine ecosystems, contributing to the broader network of MPAs and wider seas protection. Introducing appropriate measures in existing MPAs and proposed PMF management areas will be suitable to achieve the desired level of protection of the features.