Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report Proposed Demersal Fisheries Management Plans coordinated by the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government

Non-technical Summary

The following draft 11 FMPs will hereafter be jointly referred to as “Whitefish/Demersal FMPs” covering all demersal whitefish stock FMPs coordinated by the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, and these have been prepared to meet the requirements of the Fisheries Act 2020:

• the Northern Shelf Cod FMP
• the North Sea and Eastern Channel Whiting FMP
• the Northern Shelf Haddock FMP
• the North Sea and West Coast of Scotland Saithe FMP
• the Northern Shelf Hake FMP
• Northern Shelf Monk/Anglerfish FMP
• the Northern Shelf Megrim FMP
• the Northern Shelf Ling FMP
• the West Coast of Scotland Whiting FMP
• the Atlantic (Rockall) Cod FMP and
• the Atlantic (Rockall) Haddock FMP.

They set out the policies and proposed actions the fisheries policy authorities (Scottish Government, Defra, DAERA and Welsh Government) will use to manage demersal whitefish species fishing activity, so stocks are harvested within sustainable levels. Alongside these measures, the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs also set out management to help support wider social, economic and environmental aspects of the fishery.

This environmental report (ER) has been produced in accordance with the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (hereafter the SEA Regulations 2004). The following issues (from Schedule 2, paragraph 6 of the SEA Regulations 2004) were scoped into the assessment:

• biodiversity
• fauna
• flora
• geology and sediments (soil)
• water
• climatic factors
• cultural heritage
• landscape and seascape

This assessment focuses on how the policies and actions in the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs could give rise to both significant positive and negative environmental effects. The findings of this assessment have been used to inform the development of the FMPs.

The assessment was conducted against a baseline that primarily used existing evidence on the state of the marine environment set out in The updated UK Marine Strategy Part 1 published in 2019. Additional sources of evidence were used to establish the status of environment in relation to issues, such as climatic factors, not covered by the UK Marine Strategy (UK MS). The historical impact of fishing activity on the marine environment has been considered part of the baseline. Our assessment used the best available evidence to reach a suitable judgement on the environmental effects of the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs.

This report sets out those plans, programmes and environmental protection objectives, both international and domestic that the fisheries policy authorities consider relevant to the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs.

This report considers and acknowledges the existing environmental effects of fishing for cod, whiting, haddock, saithe, hake, monk, megrim and ling using towed gear, static nets and longlines on those issues scoped into this assessment, in relation to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the UK MS descriptors of good environmental status (GES) for the wider marine environment, and climatic factors. The potential positive and negative environmental effects of the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs’ policies and proposed actions alone and in-combination have also been assessed.

The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has concluded that beyond the direct impact on targeted stocks, the fishery has an impact on the wider marine environment primarily through seabed disturbance (from mobile demersal gears) and bycatch of unwanted / protected species (mainly from static nets). Actions have been proposed to investigate these impacts and use this evidence to develop robust mitigation strategies. The contribution of demersal fishing to climate change related issues and cultural heritage through structural damage for example, was also identified as a potential impact.

The draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs have considered these impacts and set out proposals to monitor, and where required, introduce mitigation to address these impacts.

The assessment of the likely negative effects of the policies and actions did not identify any negative effects that posed a significant risk to the environment. The policies and actions will, where appropriate, be developed to avoid any potential negative effects identified by the assessment process. The environmental effects of implementing the Whitefish/Demersal FMPs’ policies and actions will also be monitored to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage, so appropriate remedial action can be undertaken.

This assessment recommends the draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs should consider the following additional points.

• Future iterations of the Whitefish/Demersal FMPs should consider how they can develop the cultural heritage of each fishery and how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with marine heritage assets.
• Future iterations of the Whitefish/Demersal FMPs should consider how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with submerged prehistoric landscapes or seascapes.
• The draft Whitefish/Demersal FMPs would benefit from providing more specific detail on how the FMPs will interact with Marine Plans. Noting how the FMPs could positively or negatively interact with this programme, would improve the in-combination assessment.