Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for Pelagic Fisheries Management Plans

8. Monitoring and Review

Monitoring

Regulation 17 of the SEA Regulations 2004 requires the responsible authorities to monitor the significant environmental effects of the implementation of the draft Pelagic FMPs’ policies and actions to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage, ensuring appropriate remedial action can be undertaken. Paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 to the 2004 Regulations requires the Environmental Report to include a description of the measures envisaged concerning monitoring in accordance with regulation 17.

The types of relevant monitoring already undertaken or proposed by the FMPs fall into the following categories:

• Monitoring the effectiveness of FMP policies and actions
• Environmental impacts monitoring
• Monitoring changes in fishing activity

Monitoring effectiveness of the FMPs

Section 6 of the Fisheries Act 2020 requires the FMPs to specify indicators to be used for monitoring the effectiveness of the draft Pelagic FMPs.

The draft Pelagic FMPs’ policies and actions are intended to ensure that the fisheries covered by these FMPs are fished sustainably with respect to an MSY approach and also to support improvements in the overall management approach.

The section on Implementation and Monitoring (section 12) of the FMPs provides details on the indicators to be used for monitoring the effectiveness of the plans. This includes:

• ICES stock assessments assess how fish populations have changed over time and the effect that fishing pressure is having on stocks. Key biological indicators are provided as reference points, which give indication towards their MSY, fishing pressure and spawning stock biomass. Fisheries policy authorities undertake a review of ICES stock assessments on an annual basis, to determine how stocks are performing against these reference points, and any other reference points provided within the advice^[26].
• The health of the stock will continue to be reviewed in this way as part of the ongoing negotiations cycle, utilising the ICES stock assessment process, and will also be reviewed on a more in-depth basis as part of the ICES benchmark process (which varies from stock to stock). The health of the stock will be the indicator used to monitor the effectiveness of these FMPs in managing the FMP stocks sustainably.

Individual policies and actions will be monitored and reported on. As part of the three-year review cycle for the JFS, as set out under section 11 of the Fisheries Act (2020), each policy and action contained within the FMPs will be considered and reported on in relation to a) whether it has been implemented and b) any known interactions between the actions and health of the stock. The responsible authorities will report on levels of biomass, primarily using ICES reference points, to provide an indication of the overall health of the stock.

Environmental Impacts

The conservation status of conservation sites, including SACs, SPAs, MPAs and MCZs is monitored by the SNCBs, and is reported under the Habitats Regulations, the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Findings from these monitoring activities could be used to help indicate where potential risks or impacts associated with fishing activity being managed through the FMPs are occurring. FMPs could act on this evidence to amend their policies and actions to reduce or avoid these risks or impacts. Findings from these monitoring activities could also be used to indicate where FMP policies and actions are having a positive effect. The draft Pelagic FMPs include an action on supporting fisheries management measures being introduced to existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), where these are not already in place.

The UK MS monitors and assesses the state of the marine environment against 11 descriptors. See section above for details on how monitoring the FMPs will link into future assessments under the UK MS.

PMFs (Scottish waters)

In July 2014, Scottish Ministers adopted a list of 81 Priority Marine Features (PMFs), which may also be protected under various legislations or other designations. As many benthic species and habitat PMFs are represented within the Scottish MPA network, it is assumed these features will receive protection through the MPA management process.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) was set up under the Climate Change Act 2008 to support the strategic aims of Defra and the devolved administrations and to independently assess how the UK can optimally achieve its emissions reductions goals. The Committee advises on the level of carbon budgets and submits annual reports to Parliament on the UK’s progress towards targets and budgets. Evidence on the contribution of the UK Pelagic fishing fleet has been considered in this SEA and would continue to be reviewed against the FMPs’ actions as part of monitoring.

Review

The Fisheries Act 2020 requires the Pelagic FMPs to be reviewed at least every six years; the 2020 Act requires a report on the FMP’s progress to be included in the report on the JFS every three years. The formal review will assess how the FMPs have contributed to the Pelagic fisheries harvesting within sustainable limits and the Fisheries Act objectives. An earlier review may be triggered in light of a change to relevant evidence, international obligations, or wider events. The decision to review earlier will be taken by the fisheries policy authorities.

The results of monitoring the effectiveness of the Pelagic FMPs will also contribute to the legally required process to review the JFS. The JFS report will set out the extent to which each FMP has been implemented and has affected stock levels in the UK.

Additional reviews can be conducted at any point within these time scales if relevant evidence, international obligations, or wider events require a change in the policies set out in the FMPs.

The findings of these reviews will inform the development of subsequent iterations of the Pelagic FMPs. As part of the reporting and wider review processes, alternatives to management can be identified to ensure the Pelagic FMPs deliver on their policies and wider environmental obligations.

The SEA Environmental Report will be periodically updated to reflect how the implementation of proposed FMPs’ policies and actions affect the environment. Such updating will ensure that the SEA remains up to date throughout the ongoing FMP process into the future.