Offshore Marine Protected Areas - fisheries management measures: supporting guidance on coordinates and restrictions:
Detailed guidance on site-specific fisheries management measures within Scottish Offshore Marine Protected Areas, including restricted gear types, gear codes, and precise area coordinates, to support compliance and promote sustainable use of marine resources in designated protected zones.
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide a simple guide to the fisheries management measures introduced by the Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025 (the 2025 Order).
This Order establishes management measures within Scotland’s offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), covering the offshore region from 12 to 200 nautical miles. with some measures also applying inshore areas where sites overlap the inshore region.
The measures set out in this document come into effect on 16 October 2025.
The measures detailed in this document apply in addition to any other measures, restrictions or closures in place.
Disclaimer
This document is designed to be a non-statutory guide to the management measures implemented by the 2025 Order. Readers should satisfy themselves regarding the accuracy of this document by checking the source legislation, which can be found at the following web links:
The Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025
Important information
In this document,
“co-ordinate” means a co-ordinate of latitude and longitude according to the World Geodetic System 1984 Datum(6).
“boundary line” means a boundary delineated by a line as described in any of the tables in this document.
“geodesic Line” means the shortest line between two co-ordinates on the surface of Earth.
Restrictions
Restrictions to fishing activity are site specific and may be zonal or apply to full protected areas.
Contact
Email: Marine_biodiversity@gov.scot