Demersal Fisheries Management Plans proposals: strategic environmental assessment - environmental report

Appendix E: Glossary

Biodiversity: The variety of all life on earth, including the diversity within and between all plant and animal species and the diversity of ecosystems.

Blue carbon: Carbon captured by the world’s oceans and coastal ecosystems. Blue carbon habitats are the habitats where it is stored.

Bycatch: Defined in section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020 means (a) fish that are caught while fishing for fish of a different description, or (b) animals other than fish that are caught in the course of fishing.

Climate change: Referring to human-induced climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions. It includes global warming, warming oceans, greater risks of flooding, droughts, and heat waves.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS): The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) is an international agreement that aims to conserve migratory species throughout their ranges. The agreement was signed under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme and is concerned with conservation of wildlife and habitats on a global scale.

Descriptors (UK Marine Strategy): Descriptors are elements within the environment that provide the means to assess general status or condition of that environment. This can be done through the establishment of indicators or targets for each descriptor.

Ecosystem: A biological community which consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact.

Ecosystem-based approach: Defined in section 1(10) of the Fisheries Act 2020 as an approach which (a) ensures that the collective pressure of human activities is kept within levels compatible with the achievement of good environmental status (within the meaning of the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1627)), and (b) does not compromise the capacity of marine ecosystems to respond to human-induced changes.

Findspots: The place where one or more artefacts have been found. May prove to be associated with a site, other finds, natural features etc., or isolated (no apparent relationship).

Fish: Marine and estuarine finfish and shellfish, including migratory species such as European eel and salmon.

Fisheries: The commercial or recreational capture of wild marine organisms (fish and shellfish); commercial fishing can use a variety of mobile and static gear, vessels, and locations.

Fisheries Framework (Fisheries Management and Support Framework): outlines the legislation and policies for the sustainable management of fisheries and the wider seafood sector. It covers the catching, processing, and supply industries, including access to fishing opportunities, licensing, stock recovery, enforcement, data collection, aquaculture, recreational sea angling, and areas of collaboration and common principles. It includes governance structures and ways of working.

Fisheries Management Plan (FMP): A document, prepared and published under the Fisheries Act 2020, that sets out policies designed to restore one or more stocks of sea fish to, or maintain them at, sustainable levels.

Fisheries policy authorities: As defined by section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020, “fisheries policy authorities” means (a) the Secretary of State, (b) the Scottish Ministers, (c) the Welsh Ministers, and (d) the Northern Ireland department.

Fishermen’s fasteners: Places where fishermen have snagged their fishing gear.

Food webs: The natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats what in an ecological community.

Good Environmental Status (GES): A qualitative description of the state of the seas that the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010 requires authorities to achieve or maintain by the year 2020. Achieving GES is about protecting the marine environment, preventing its deterioration, and restoring it where practical, while allowing sustainable use of marine resources.

Inshore: 0 to 12 nautical miles from the UK’s territorial sea baselines.

Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs): IFCAs are responsible for the management of fishing activities in English coastal waters out to six nautical miles from territorial sea baselines. The 10 IFCAs have a shared 'vision' to lead, champion and manage a sustainable marine environment and inshore fisheries.

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES): Coordinates and promotes marine research on oceanography, the marine environment, the marine ecosystem, and on living marine resources in the North Atlantic.

Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS): As defined by section 2(1) of the Fisheries Act 2020, a document which sets out the policies of the fisheries policy authorities for achieving, or contributing to the achievement of, the fisheries objectives in the Fisheries Act 2020.

Marine environment: Includes (a) the natural beauty or amenity of marine or coastal areas, or of inland waters or waterside areas, (b) features of archaeological or historic interest in those areas, and (c) flora and fauna which are dependent on, or associated with, a marine or coastal, or aquatic or waterside, environment.

Marine litter: Any solid material which has been deliberately discarded or unintentionally lost on beaches, on shores or at sea. It includes any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO): An executive non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, with responsibility for planning and licensing of activities in English waters from 0-200nm, save fisheries activities within 0-6nm which are the responsibility of the IFCAs. The MMO also has some UK responsibilities.

Marine Protected Areas (MPA): Areas of the sea protected by law for nature conservation purposes.

Marine Plans: A marine plan is a document which has been prepared and adopted for a marine plan area by the appropriate marine plan authority in accordance with Schedule 6 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, and which states the authority's policies for and in connection with the sustainable development of the area.

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY): Defined in the Fisheries Act 2020 as the highest theoretical equilibrium yield that can be continuously taken on average from a marine stock under existing environmental conditions without significantly affecting recruitment.

National fisheries authorities: As defined by section 25(4) of the Fisheries Act 2020, these are (a) the Secretary of State, (b) the Marine Management Organisation, (c) the Scottish Ministers, (d) the Welsh Ministers, and (e) the Northern Ireland department. The term ‘national fisheries authorities’ differs from ‘fisheries policies authorities’ in including the MMO.

Non-quota stocks (NQS): Species that are not managed through TACs (quota limits). They include some finfish, most commercial shellfish species, and various other species.

Offshore: 12 to 200 nautical miles from the UK’s territorial sea baselines.

Precautionary approach to fisheries management: Defined in section 1(10) of the Fisheries Act 2020 as an approach in which the absence of sufficient scientific information is not used to justify postponing or failing to take management measures to conserve target species, associated or dependent species, non-target species or their environment.

Processing: As defined by section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020: in relation to fish or any other aquatic organism, includes preserving or preparing the organism, or producing any substance or article from it, by any method for human or animal consumption.

RAMSAR Convention: The convention emphasises the special value of wetland, particularly as a key habitat for waterfowl. The Convention resulted in the designation of sites known as Ramsar Sites for management and conservation at an international level.

Recreational sea fishing: An umbrella term for a variety of recreational activities including recreational sea angling recreational netters and charter boats.

Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO): A multilateral international body or agreement set up to manage and conserve fish stocks in a particular region.

Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM): Integrated on-board systems that may include cameras, gear sensors, video storage, and Global Positioning System units, which capture comprehensive videos and are used to monitor fishing activity with associated sensor and positional information.

Resilience: The ability of an ecosystem, species, habitat, or industry to respond, recover or adapt to either changes or disturbances within a reasonable timeframe without permanent loss or damage.

Sensitive species: As defined in section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020, sensitive species means: (a) any species of animal or plant listed in Annex II or IV of Directive 92/43/EEC of the Council of the European Communities on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna (as amended from time to time), (b) any other species of animal or plant, other than a species of fish, whose habitat, distribution, population size or population condition is adversely affected by pressures arising from fishing or other human activities, or (c) any species of bird.

Shellfish: As defined in section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020, shellfish includes molluscs and crustaceans of any kind found in the sea or inland waters.

Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies' (SNCBs): The Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies' (SNCBs) are Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and DAERA's statutory advisory body, the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside.

Sustainable Development: As defined by the Brundtland report (1987), sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable fishing: Sustainable fisheries protect their stocks and the wider environment whilst delivering social and economic prosperity. Fisheries management decisions should balance environmental, economic, and social considerations to create sustainable fisheries that benefit present and future generations. It means ensuring that fish stocks can be fished commercially and recreationally, both now and in the future. Both the short-term and the long-term impacts of decisions managing fishing activity to protect stocks and on the fishing industry should be considered, while any short-term decisions to give social or economic benefit should not significantly compromise the long-term health of the marine environment. These decisions should recognise the cultural importance of fishing through maintaining and, where possible, strengthening coastal communities and livelihoods alongside the requirement for fish stocks to reach and maintain sustainable levels.

Territorial sea: The waters under the jurisdiction of a state, defined by UNCLOS as up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline or low-water line along the coast.

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR): An international agreement for cooperation for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. Work under the Convention is managed by the OSPAR Commission, made up of representatives of the Governments of 15 Contracting Parties and the European Commission, representing the European Union. Work to implement the OSPAR Convention is taken forward through the adoption of decisions, which are legally binding on the Contracting Parties, recommendations, and other agreements.

Total Allowable Catch (TAC): The total allowable catch (TAC) is a catch limit set for a particular fishery or stock, generally for a year or a fishing season. TACs are usually expressed in tonnes of live weight equivalent but are sometimes set in terms of numbers of fish.

Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA): The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the one part, and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community of the other part. This agreement governs the relationship between the UK and the EU. It was signed in December 2020, applied from 1 January 2021, and was ratified (in a slightly amended form) in April 2021.

UK Marine Policy Statement (UK MPS): The UK policy framework for preparing marine plans and taking decisions that affect the marine environment in the UK.

UK Marine Strategy (UK MS): The UK Marine Strategy provides the framework for delivering marine policy at the UK level and sets out how we will achieve the vision of clean, healthy, safe, productive, and biologically diverse oceans and seas.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): The international legal instrument for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS): A multilateral international agreement that lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world's oceans and seas, establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources. It was signed in 1982 and came into force in 1994.

UN Sustainable Development Goals: 17 United Nations goals ‘to transform our world’ and promote prosperity whilst protecting the planet. Goal 14 is to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.

Water quality: A measure of the condition of water and its suitability to sustain a range of uses for both biotic and human benefits.