There are moves afoot to consider better protection for the marine ecosystems in Scotland’s deep sea. It’s not widely realised, but most of Scotland IS deep sea’ (our territorial waters are five times our country’s land mass, and much of this is beyond the Continental shelf). Our deep sea marine ecosystems are dark, low mobility areas, where nothing moves or grows very fast, but we are now beginning to realise it contains – and sustains – a fantastic diversity of life. We are only just beginning to survey this vast sub-sea area, let alone understand its importance for the wider ecology of our seas.
It is for this reason that the deep sea probably most epitomises the notion of “out of sight out of mind” in our society. So many issues are hidden (more…)
The myth: the experience of Broad Bay (on the coast of Lewis) is sometimes publicly cited as providing strong evidence that MPAs do not work. Our response: It is simply not right to draw these conclusions. MPAs can – and do – work. The background and reasons are set out below:
The large sea area lying between the Lewis mainland and the Eye Peninsula, known as ‘Broad Bay’ or Loch A Tuath has been closed to mobile gear* fishing all year round since 1989. (Currently closed under The Inshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing and Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2004)
Broad Bay was an important spawning and nursery ground for flatfish species, in particular the European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa). The prohibition of mobile gear was implemented in an attempt to protect these grounds and increase plaice abundance.
The closure of broad bay was not to manage scallop fishing or protect scallop habitats.
There has been no dedicated survey to study scallop or fish population abundances and distribution conducted within the bay.
Six tows within Broad Bay were added onto the 2007 west coast scallop dredge survey. The results of these isolated observations indicated low scallop abundance.
Assumptions regarding the population dynamics of scallops, or any other fish species, in Broad Bay cannot be drawn from these results. * trawl, Danish seine or similar net, purse seine, ring net or dredge (including a suction dredge)
Read our series of blogs that reviews the complex, exciting and growing evidence base that MPAs can have secondary fisheries benefits, as well as helping to recover marine biodiversity and ecosystem health.
Myth 2: The MPAs will negatively affect coastal communities
Our response: This is a really important issue for Scottish fishermen and it is essential that it is fully understood for the public benefit. Environmental regulation is not just about protection and is not setting out to needlessly restrict commercial activity. It is our view that the concerns expressed must be considered in the round by acknowledging the benefits of MPAs – and the associated reform to fisheries management – for local areas. Some sectors of the fishing industry are heartened by the prospect of greater restrictions on bottom-towed fishing methods, as this will both enable seabed recovery, fishing of otherwise inaccessible waters, spill-over of fish and shellfish to nearby areas and potentially help to reduce gear conflict. Other marine tourism operators are also very supportive of MPAs – by looking after our environment better wildlife tourism can thrive, and tourism fills our local guesthouses, restaurants (to which many fishermen supply their catch), shops and attractions. These benefits have been identified by studies of MPAs in other countries and the Scottish Government has also acknowledged these likely benefits. We contend that some of the projections about economic consequences supplied by the fishing industry are not based on a sound methodology and over-estimate negative impacts. A study, commissioned by the Marine Conservation Society has highlighted this context. However, that does not mean that there will be no short-term impacts – indeed it is absolutely vital that any fishing businesses that may be affected by the management measures (for example, by displacement or the need for diversification) are supported by access to funding, such as the European Marine Fisheries Fund.
2015 has been quite a year for Scotland’s seas. Back in January there was significant concern that new marine protected areas would become paper parks, with little management to actually reverse the declining health of our marine environment. With the #DontTakeTheP (out of MPAs) campaign, throughout the year we have edged closer to meaningful management that could see our amazing, rich and fragile seabed habitats better protected so that our seas return to better health. This issue is by no means over and 2016 will be an equally important year. A lot of other stuff has happened too… a ruling about data release for fish farms, new marine regions, the adoption of the National Marine Plan, a moratorium on Underground Coal Gasification and some fantastic marine wildlife sightings that are a reminder of just how important our seas are.
Below are some tweets for a wee whistlestop overview of 2015. (more…)
[PRESS RELEASE: in response to the Scottish Government’s announcement about fisheries management in inshore Marine Protected Areas and Special Areas of Conservation]
Environmental organisations have today welcomed the Scottish Government’s announcement on managing fishing within Scotland’s network of marine protected areas (MPAs). The MPAs include some of the most vulnerable marine wildlife sites in Europe and some of the 30 areas designated in the summer of 2014 to protect a range of habitats and species including flameshell beds and the common skate. However, until now the areas have been at risk of potentially irreversible damage from some fishing activities. The new proposals for fisheries management in the MPAs will (more…)
Placing proportionate limits on bottom-towed fishing could help boost long-term jobs in fragile rural communities, as well as protect the environment, contend a coalition of Scottish charities. The Scottish Government is due to announce measures for managing fishing in several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) later this month. Scottish Environment LINK’s Marine Taskforce has written to the Scottish Parliament with the findings of an economic review which highlights the benefits that protection of seabed habitats could provide.
Drawing on the report, the environmental groups say that if the Scottish Government (more…)
Our Save Scottish Seas campaign was recently nominated for the Marine Conservation Award – a category of the Nature of Scotland Awards. We are delighted about this.
Our nine members (Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, Marine Conservation Society, National Trust for Scotland, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, WWF Scotland) have campaigned together for over 10 years to help recover the environmental health of our seas.
You can read the history of our long-running campaign to secure progressive legislation that has paved the way for a network of Marine Protected Areas. We are now at a crucial stage of this campaign: we are on the brink of making a strong case for MPAs for mobile species (such as whales and dolphins) and within a matter of months, key decisions (more…)
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have come under some heavy fire from some fishing representatives for potentially “devastating” socio-economic impacts, but we contend MPAs will help to recover our seas and boost the resilience of coastal communities in Scotland. In this blog, we explain why a lot of people around rural Scotland, including many progressive Scottish fishermen, agree: by looking after our marine environment, MPAs can be part of a rural and coastal revival.
It’s now not helpful pretending otherwise: MPAs have become a wee bit divisive. We’ve charted here, here, here and here the various twists and turns of developing a network of Scottish MPAs. But if you don’t have time to read, here’s a quick re-cap: these MPAs are ‘in the water’ (ie they were designated in 2014) but there is still no comprehensive fisheries management (except for emergency measures in South Arran and Wester Ross), which means that our fishing fleets continue to catch fish within these parts of our inshore waters just like before – using a variety of methods (more…)
Right now our political representatives in the Scottish Parliament are deliberating on what measures are right for the stewardship of Scotland’s inshore seas.
As collective representatives of hundreds of thousands of people who want a sustainable Scotland, we support well-managed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that protect our precious inshore areas from damaging fishing methods. This is not environmental dogma. It is evidence-based policy in action. And it is popular. Recently, nearly 5,000 people wrote to the Scottish Government backing our recommendations. In response, the Scottish Government has set out good plans that will restrict the most damaging types of fishing within inshore MPAs. The measures contain compromise, but we welcome them as urgent and necessary action to better manage the public resource of our seas.
Our MSPs are now looking at these plans and must navigate (more…)
It’s the holy grail of marine conservation, or at least it is to many skippers, fisheries managers and governments. The win-win-win: whereby improving the ecological health of our seas leads to real in-the-pocket benefits for the fishing sector, with higher value landings (based on a combination of increased biological productivity and high-value catch) making a positive contribution to the national balance sheet. It’s no surprise that it is the focus for extensive scientific research across the world.
There is increasing evidence that MPAs offer significant long-term secondary economic benefits flowing from the environmental benefits of (more…)
As part of series of case-studies, we are exploring how Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) interact with fisheries management and how emerging science from other areas around the world shows some encouraging signs of the fisheries benefits of MPAs.
Case Study 1: MPAs along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast [1]
This study was based on a group of MPAs establish in 2006 along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast, designed to protect shellfish and partially protect fish stocks. The researchers used Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) methods to try and determine what the effect of the MPAs would be. This means that they collected field data on the numbers and sizes of lobsters (more…)
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There are moves afoot to consider better protection for the marine ecosystems in Scotland’s deep sea. It’s not widely realised, but most of Scotland IS deep sea’ (our territorial waters are five times our country’s land mass, and much of this is beyond the Continental shelf). Our deep sea marine ecosystems are dark, low mobility areas, where nothing moves or grows very fast, but we are now beginning to realise it contains – and sustains – a fantastic diversity of life. We are only just beginning to survey this vast sub-sea area, let alone understand its importance for the wider ecology of our seas.
