Scottish seabird conservation action plan: consultation analysis

1 Introduction

1.1 The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2018/19 included a commitment to identify actions to ‘address the significant declines in seabird populations, such as puffins, through a new Seabird Conservation Strategy’. This commitment was reiterated in the Scottish Biodiversity Delivery Plan 2024–2030 which states a commitment to publishing a seabird conservation strategy in 2025. A Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan has now been produced and a consultation on action plan was undertaken between 11 December 2024 and 5 March 2025. This report presents the findings of an analysis of the responses to that consultation.

Policy context

1.2 Seabirds are important to Scotland’s natural heritage and play a crucial role in marine ecosystems. However, the populations of many seabird species are in decline (as evidenced by the latest findings of the UK Seabirds Count), with factors such as climate change, invasive non-native species, food shortages, and human activity all seen as contributing to this decline.

1.3 The Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan is intended to provide a framework for reversing the decline in seabird populations. It recognises the varied and important place of seabirds in different aspects of Scottish life (in relation to, for example, the environment, wellbeing, tourism and the economy) and the related need for a robust and broad-based approach to addressing declining numbers. The action plan is described as outlining ‘an evidence-based approach to seabird conservation, bringing together government agencies, conservation groups, local communities, and industry partners’. The plan is aligned with the Scottish Government’s Purpose and Environment national outcome, ‘We value, enjoy, protect and enhance our environment’. It is also in line with the Scottish Government’s stated ambition for Scotland to be Nature Positive by 2030, and to have restored and regenerated biodiversity by 2045 (as set out in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy).

1.4 The draft action plan covered 22 species of seabirds. It set out a vision and associated aims and objectives for achieving a thriving seabird population in Scotland. The action plan focused on three ‘core’ themes for action:

• Ensuring plentiful food supplies
• Restoring and improving seabird habitats
• Maximising resilience and survival.

1.5 It presented priority actions that will address the identified key pressures on Scotland’s seabird populations while they are in Scottish waters. Actions sought to address six aspects of conservation. These included the three identified core themes, as well as ‘building the evidence base’, ‘celebrating Scotland’s seabirds’, and ‘making a global contribution’. The action plan also outlined opportunities for implementation and funding.

1.6 The Scottish Government has worked in partnership with an expert working group in developing the action plan to date. The action plan takes account of stakeholder views expressed at a workshop held in February 2022 and a NatureScot report on potential actions to support the recovery of seabird populations in Scotland.^[2]

The consultation and its role in the policy-making process

1.7 A consultation paper seeking views on the Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan was published on the Scottish Government’s consultation webpage on 11 December 2024, with a closing date for responses of 5 March 2025. The consultation was launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy at the Scottish Seabird Centre and promoted on social media.

1.8 The consultation paper presented the action plan and was accompanied by a Bird Species Annex and a Scottish Seabird Vulnerability Report. The consultation contained four questions. As well as asking respondents about their overall support for the implementation of the action plan (Question 1), it sought views on whether the action plan has identified all the key pressures on Scotland’s seabird populations (Question 2), and the key actions required to address the vision, aims and objectives set out in the action plan (Question 3). It also asked for views on how progress on the action plan should be monitored (Question 4).^[3]

1.9 The consultation emphasised the importance of collaboration and shared responsibility in addressing seabird conservation and encouraged all those with an interest in Scotland’s natural environment to respond to the consultation. Respondents could complete an online questionnaire or submit a response via email or post.

About the analysis

1.10 This report is based on an analysis of the responses to the consultation. Frequency analysis has been undertaken in relation to the closed questions and the findings are shown in tables in this report. Qualitative analysis of the comments submitted in response to each question has also been undertaken. The aim of the qualitative analysis was to identify the main themes and the full range of views submitted in response to each question, and to explore areas of agreement and disagreement in the views of different groups of respondents.

Caveat about the findings

1.11 As with all consultations it is important to bear in mind that the views of those who have responded are not representative of the views of the wider population. Individuals (and organisations) who have a keen interest in a topic – and the capacity to respond – are more likely to participate in a consultation than those who do not. This self-selection means that the views of consultation participants cannot be generalised to the wider population.

1.12 For this reason, the approach to consultation analysis is primarily qualitative in nature. Its main purpose is not to identify how many people held particular views, but rather to understand the full range of views and concerns expressed by respondents.

1.13 Finally, the tables throughout this report show responses received at each closed question, with a breakdown by respondent type (individual vs organisation). Given the relatively small number of organisations that took part in the consultation (20 in total – see Chapter 2 for details), the report does not provide a breakdown of responses by organisation type. Note also that not all respondents answered all the closed questions, and the total number shown in each table is, therefore, the number of respondents who answered that question.

The report

1.14 The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 presents information about the respondents to the consultation and the responses submitted.
• Chapters 3 to 6 present the results of the analysis of the responses to the consultation.

1.15 Annexes to the report present a list of organisational respondents categorised by organisation type (Annex 1), the text from a campaign organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in relation to the consultation (Annex 2), and the response rates for each consultation question (Annex 3).