Social Impacts Research for Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features Management in Scottish Waters
This research informs the SEIA by improving understanding of the social values of coastal and island communities and how proposed marine management measures may affect them. It identifies community perceptions, potential social impacts, and key issues and concerns.
Appendix 2.0 Site selection and stakeholder mapping
Site Selection
The selection of six locations aimed to ensure a range of different characteristics were covered:
- both island and mainland communities;
- both urban and rural areas;
- locations likely to be affected by different measures;
- some locations already affected by inshore MPA management measures introduced in 2016.
A brainstorming meeting was held involving the Marine Directorate and the project team. This identified a long list of possible locations, based on the criteria specified above, types of measures proposed, knowledge of local fishing characteristics and issues and where engagement with fishing interests was felt to be particularly important. These were grouped into six broad locations, based on the application of the selection criteria. Table 4 shows the application of the selection criteria to the proposed broad areas (possible specific locations are shown in brackets).
| Criteria | Moray Firth (Peterhead, Buckie, Fraserburgh) | Northern Isles (Lerwick) | Clyde (Ayr, Troon) | West Coast (Mallaig, Oban) | North Coast (Ullapool) | Western Isles (Stornoway, Barra) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number / range of measures (H/M/L) | Low – MPA overlap and SACs and SPAs in vicinity | High – all designation types in close proximity of Lerwick | Medium MPA/PMF/SPA and SAC in vicinity | Medium – Inner Hebrides SAC covers Oban – SPAs/PMFs and MPA in vicinity | Low – Inner Hebrides SAC covers Ullapool – SPAs and PMFs in vicinity | High –full range of proposed measures |
| Local economy: Total number of fishers employed in district[46] | 399 | 534 | 438 | 202 | 186 | 3272 |
| Island / mainland* | Mainland | Island | Mainland | Mainland | Mainland | Island |
| Rural / urban [47] | Urban | Rural | Urban | Urban | Rural | Rural |
| Overlap with the 2016 measures and monitoring (Yes/No) | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Stakeholder mapping
Stakeholder mapping was carried out to identify the stakeholder groups in each location and to understand the relevance of the measures and stakeholders’ interest in the topic of fisheries management measures. This information was used to target publicity for the drop-in sessions and to select priority stakeholders for the workshops.
A long list of stakeholder organisations was drawn up for each location, based on:
- contact with key local organisations (Head of Islands Association (for the islands) and community councils (for mainland locations and some islands where these exist)
- desk-based searches to identify stakeholder groups and understand their membership and activities or services
- contacts provided by the Marine Directorate, including members of existing stakeholder groups.
Stakeholders were classified by sector (e.g., fishing, aquaculture, processing, tourism, NGOs, community organisations) for the purpose of recruitment, to ensure that we were recruiting stakeholders from a wide range of organisation types and sectors. Notes were made of activities or publications indicating organisations’ level of awareness and/or engagement with marine planning (High/Low) and the potential impact of the measures on them (High/Low). An extensive list of stakeholders for each location was shared with Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate, which advised on which stakeholders to invite to the workshops. Efforts were made to maintain the balance between sectors for each location. All identified stakeholders were invited to the drop-in sessions. Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate carried out additional promotion of the drop-in sessions to stakeholders based on their existing networks and contacts.
Contact
Email: marine_biodiversity@gov.scot