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

Footnotes

1 Scottish waters refer to the Scottish inshore and Scottish offshore regions as set out in Section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

2 English waters refer to the English inshore and English offshore regions as set out in Section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

3 Northern Irish waters refer to the Northern Irish inshore and Northern Irish offshore regions as set out in Section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

4 Welsh waters refer to the Welsh inshore and Welsh offshore regions as set out in Section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

5 Geodiversity is defined as the natural range of rocks, minerals, fossils, landforms, topography, sediments and soils together with the natural processes which form and alter them.

6 Geodiversity (Geology and sediments) issue has been combined with the Biodiversity, Flora, and Fauna section as benthic habitats is relevant to these issues.

7 BEIS (Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) (2021b) 2019 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Final Figures – Statistical Summary.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-1990-to-2019

8 DfT (Department for Transport) (2021) Statistical Release: Transport and Environment Statistics 2021 Annual Report, 11 May 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-and-environment-statistics-2021

9 Mieszkowska, N., Burrows, M. and Sugden, H. (2020) Impacts of climate change on intertidal habitats relevant to the coastal and marine environment around the UK. MCCIP Science Review 2020, 256–271.

10 Engelhard, G.H., Righton, D.A. and Pinnegar, J.K., 2014. Climate change and fishing: a century of shifting distribution in North Sea cod. Global change biology, 20(8), pp.2473-2483.

Townhill, B.L., Couce, E., Tinker, J., Kay, S. and Pinnegar, J.K., 2023. Climate change projections of commercial fish distribution and suitable habitat around north western Europe. Fish and Fisheries, 24(5), pp.848-862.

Maltby, K.M., Rutterford, L.A., Tinker, J., Genner, M.J. and Simpson, S.D., 2020. Projected impacts of warming seas on commercially fished species at a biogeographic boundary of the European continental shelf. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57(11), pp.2222-2233.

11 Information derived from Fishing and the Historic Environment, page 44.

12 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).

13 Cadw (2019) Managing the Marine Historic Environment of Wales.

14 UK Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment - scoping (publishing.service.gov.uk)

15 Figure 1, Page 9. seascape-character-assessment.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

16 Figure 2, Page 10. seascape-character-assessment.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

17 Ward, Ingrid, and Piers Larcombe. "Determining the preservation rating of submerged archaeology in the post-glacial southern North Sea: a first-order geomorphological approach." Environmental Archaeology 13.1 (2008): 59-83.

18 Draft GES rapid risk assessment categories: Low risk = some risk does exist but impact may not be of a scale to impact upon GES descriptors. Moderate risk = clear link between fishing activity and GES indicator but other activities also significantly contribute to current indicator status. Or where high-risk activity only makes up a small proportion of fishery. High risk = recognised link between fishing activity within FMP and failure of GES indicator. ‘Risk unclear’ used where situation is complex, and more work is required to understand true nature of risk.

19 The 11 descriptors include: biodiversity; non-indigenous species; commercial fish; food webs; eutrophication; sea-floor integrity; hydrographical conditions; contaminants; contaminants in seafood; marine litter and underwater noise. For more information, see Introduction to UK Marine Strategy (cefas.co.uk)

20 Key issues are: impact of the removal of targeted species on the status of fish stocks; benthic disturbance related pressures associated with towed demersal gear; impact of the removal of targeted fish stocks on other species / wider environment; impact of bycatch (bird / mammal / fish) on biodiversity, food webs or stocks; fishing related sources contributing to marine litter; noise from pingers / acoustic deterrents contributing to marine noise.

21 Coles, Bryony J. "Doggerland: a speculative survey." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Vol. 64. Cambridge University Press, 1998.

22 Environment (Wales) Act 2016 - Explanatory Notes

23 Good ecological status (GES) is a metric for assessing the health of the water environment. It is assigned using various water flow, habitat and biological quality tests. Failure to meet any one individual test means that the whole water body fails to achieve good ecological status. Source: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (WQR0028)

24 Reasonable alternatives definition

25 CEFAS (2024) Assessing the sustainability of fisheries catch limits negotiated by the UK for 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Sustainability of Fish Stocks | National Performance Framework

26 Where relevant, the relationship between the issue and the UK MS descriptor of GES is shown as ‘D#’ where # represents the number of the descriptor, as shown in Appendix A.

27 Kingston, A., Thomas, l. and Northridge, S. (2021) UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme Report for 2019. Sea Mammal Research Unit.

28 Northridge, S., Kingston, A. and Thomas, l. (2019) Annual report on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 812/2004 during 2018. Sea Mammal Research Unit).

29 Kingston, A., Thomas, l. and Northridge, S. (2021) UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme Report for 2019. Sea Mammal Research Unit.

30 Marine Mammal By-catch

31 Kittiwake breeding success has only been achieved for the English mainland colonies. GES for Kittiwake breeding success has not been achieved for the entire North Sea region due to breeding failures in Orkney and Shetland.

32 Anderson, O.R.J., Thompson, D. & Parsons, M. (2022). Seabird bycatch mitigation: evidence base for possible UK application and research. JNCC Report No. 717, JNCC, Peterborough. ISSN 0963-8091.

33 Northridge. S., Kinston. A. and Coram. A. (2020). Preliminary estimates of seabird bycatch by UK vessels in UK and adjacent waters. Scottish Ocean Institute, University of St Andrews. Final report to JNCC

34 Miles, J., Parsons, M. and O’Brien, S. (2020). Preliminary assessment of seabird population response to potential bycatch mitigation in the UK-registered fishing fleet. Report prepared for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Project Code ME6024).

35 Bell ED, Nash RMD, Garnacho E, De Oliveira J, Hanin M, Gilmour F, O’Brien CM 2023. Assessing the sustainability of negotiated fisheries catch limits by the UK for 2023. Cefas project report for Defra.

36 Kittiwake breeding success has only been achieved for the English mainland colonies. GES for Kittiwake breeding success has not been achieved for the entire North Sea region due to breeding failures in Orkney and Shetland.