Background
This blog explores what the future might hold for marine conservation in Scotland with a focus on how communities and local stakeholders might become more involved in decision making, and the potential role of marine planning.
Before looking to the future, it’s worth reflecting on the past, and the culmination of a polarised debate on marine conservation measures which led to the following statement on 29 June 2023:
“I can confirm that the proposal as consulted on will not be progressed.”
Màiri McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
These words, delivered by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, informed the Scottish Parliament that the Scottish Government will “no longer seek” to introduce Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) covering 10 per cent of Scotland’s seas by 2026. This was a commitment made in 2021, at the start of the current Parliament in the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme, also known as the ‘Bute House Agreement’. The commitment was a key policy aimed at tackling the twin global climate and nature crises.
The statement raises questions about the future of marine conservation in Scotland at a time when evidence indicates the need for further action to halt biodiversity loss and restore degraded marine habitats and species.
The Scottish Government is also legally required to meet its obligations under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. This international agreement establishes targets to conserve and restore 30 per cent of degraded terrestrial and marine habitats and to implement effective management “through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures”.
The Scottish Government’s analysis of the consultation on its proposed approach to HPMAs demonstrated polarised views either clearly for or against the proposals with 55 per cent supporting the proposals and 43 per cent opposed. The Scottish Government therefore faces a challenge in finding a way forward for future approaches to marine conservation. Following the statement on HPMAs, the Programme for Government 2023-24 committed to “supporting community-led marine protection”.
What might ‘community-led marine protection’ look like?
A perceived lack of community engagement was a key stumbling block for the Scottish Government’s proposals for HPMAs. A more concerted effort to bring together communities and a diverse range of stakeholders to co-design approaches to marine conservation may offer a potential route forward.
During a recent parliamentary Committee evidence session on the Scottish Government’s five-year draft Biodiversity Delivery Plan, Tavish Scott, Chief Executive of Salmon Scotland said:
“You cannot do those things at the national level. They have to be structured in a way that allows the local players to be involved and to make effective and good decisions that are based on good science and data.”
Tavish Scott, Chief Executive of Salmon Scotland
In March 2023, marine conservation and environmental groups also wrote to the Cabinet Secretary calling for communities to have greater involvement and leadership in developing proposals for marine conservation.
The Scottish Government does not need to look far for inspiration on how to approach community-led marine protection. There are numerous examples within Scotland and the rest of the UK of ‘bottom-up’ community-led approaches to marine conservation. For example:
- The Lamlash Bay No Take Zone developed by the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) was the first community-led marine reserve to achieve legal protection in Scotland when established in 2008.
- The Berwickshire Marine Reserve, located between the historic fishing towns of Eyemouth and St Abbs, was established in 1984 as Scotland’s first voluntary marine reserve. The Reserve has a committee comprising of representatives from local organisations and groups.
- The Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve established in 2008 spans the Dorset and Devon Coast. In 2012, the Lyme Bay Fisheries and Conservation Reserve Working Group was established, bringing together fishers, regulators and scientists to manage the Marine Protected Area.
- Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) are statutory bodies established in England in 2011 with responsibility for managing inshore fisheries resources in English waters out to six nautical miles. This includes developing fisheries management measures in marine protected areas. Membership of IFCAs has been set up to achieve a balance of membership that reflects the economic, social and environmental needs of their region. IFCAs have the power to set local by-laws and have enforcement powers.
Existing frameworks for community-led or more localised policy development
Scotland has existing legislative frameworks and mechanisms to enable more localised governance of marine planning and fisheries management. For example, under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Ministers can delegate responsibility for marine planning at a regional level to ‘Marine Planning Partnerships’, or MPPs.
MPPs are made up of marine stakeholders who reflect marine interests in their region. They are responsible for developing Regional Marine Plans, setting out policies for the sustainable development of marine resources, including the policies on the contribution of marine protected areas to the protection and enhancement of the area.
Unlike IFCAs in England, Marine Planning Partnerships do not have enforcement or byelaw making powers. They also lack the integration of fisheries management, which is dealt with separately by Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs). RIFGs are groups that provide commercial fishers with a forum to explore local fisheries management and wider marine planning initiatives. RIFGs are not established under law and therefore have limited resources and do not have legal powers to develop statutory fisheries management measures.
These issues have been raised in previous parliamentary Committee evidence sessions. For example, in a recent session on the Scottish Government’s draft Biodiversity Delivery Plan, Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation at the Marine Conservation Society said:
“[…] my concern with Scotland is about how inshore fisheries management integrates with other inshore activities, because we still do not have our regional marine plans. […] We look, with a certain amount of envy, to the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities—IFCAs—in England, because they have regional statutory bodies where conservation and fisheries management are integrated.”
Calum Duncan, Marine Conservation Society
In the previous parliamentary session, the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee concluded an inquiry into the implementation of regional marine planning. The Committee published its final report in December 2020. At the time, three Marine Planning Partnerships had been established, in Shetland (2016), Clyde (2017) and Orkney (2020) but no statutory Regional Marine Plans had been adopted by Scottish Ministers. This remains the case, 14 years after the framework for regional marine planning was introduced through the 2010 Act. Shetland (the most advanced of these regions) consulted on its regional marine plan in 2019 but is yet to receive Ministerial sign-off for its plan.
In its 2020 report, the Committee stated it was “concerned that leadership and guidance from central government and Marine Scotland is lacking, leading to the perception among stakeholders that regional marine planning is losing momentum” and that it was “not clear on the priorities of the Scottish Government and its desired outcomes for future implementation of regional marine planning.”
The Scottish Government’s response to the Committee’s report was published in August 2023. It confirmed that, with the exception of the Outer Hebrides, there would be no further Marine Planning Partnerships established until the second National Marine Plan is adopted (expected in 2025) which the Scottish Government states will “provide a new focus on regional issues and priorities that will provide issues and direction which should be considered within future regional plans”.
Is it time for marine planning to get more spatial?
A more localised approach to marine planning can provide an opportunity for involving communities and feeding local knowledge into the decision-making process for marine conservation measures. This could be enhanced by allowing communities to play a greater role in the ‘spatial’ component of marine planning to identify what activities should be permitted in areas of their marine region and what areas should be protected for marine conservation.
Emphasis of the spatial element of marine planning exists in domestic legislation underpinning the legal requirement for Scottish Ministers to produce a National Marine Plan. This was initiated by the EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (Directive 2014/89/EU) which came into force in July 2014. The stated purpose of this Directive is “to promote sustainable development and to identify the utilisation of maritime space for different sea uses as well as to manage spatial uses and conflicts in marine areas” (emphasis added).
Furthermore, Article 8 of the Directive requires that:
“When establishing and implementing maritime spatial planning, Member States shall set up maritime spatial plans which identify the spatial and temporal distribution of relevant existing and future activities and uses in their marine waters” (emphasis added).
Scotland’s current National Marine Plan does not describe spatial ‘zones’ for specific marine activities. Instead, it establishes a set of general policies which planning authorities are required to consider in planning and decision-making on marine development.
Other European countries such as Belgium have taken a more spatially prescriptive approach to the implementation of marine planning (see figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Illustrative map from Belgium’s marine spatial plan showing priority areas for various marine activities and conservation designations
A potential benefit of a less prescriptive approach is that it allows for greater flexibility, considering the dynamic nature of the marine environment, changing environmental conditions, and emerging industries. However, the absence of spatial plans could result in a siloed approach to the approval of marine planning decisions that fails to assess cumulative environmental impacts, and potentially greater difficulty in balancing the multiple interests in Scotland’s marine environment.
The difficulty that authorities have when it comes to considering cumulative impacts has been recognised in relation to certain sectors, such as salmon farming. For example, evidence submitted by Argyll and Bute Council to the previous session’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee inquiry on the environmental impacts of salmon farming questioned the appropriateness of the planning system in relation to the marine environment stating:
“[…] responsibility for wild fish interactions has been inappropriately allocated to Planning Authorities, who given their reactive role, are not in my opinion the best placed regulator to address this issue on a comprehensive basis, taking into account cumulative effects.”
Argyll and Bute Council
In relation to balancing multiple interests, fisheries industry bodies have also raised concerns about fishing becoming ‘squeezed out’ by the expansion of offshore wind, and marine conservation designations (see figure 2 below). They have called for “an improved evidence base for fisheries in marine spatial planning, including identification of key fishing grounds for different gear types” to “help identify and protect key fishing grounds, and those identified as sensitive to displacement impacts”.
Figure 2: Illustrative map showing a ‘worst case scenario’ based on assumptions about the expansion of different competing marine uses in the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) and Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) Report on spatial squeeze in fisheries. Coloured regions represent areas where fishing restrictions could be implemented.
The Scottish Government has undertaken a large-scale spatial planning exercise in its sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy (see figure 3 below). The plan aims to identify sustainable options for the future development of commercial-scale offshore wind energy in Scotland. The provision of a spatial strategy is intended to inform the seabed leasing process for commercial offshore wind energy. This suggests that the Scottish Government has the capability to develop detailed spatial plans on a national scale. However, it is worth acknowledging that adopting a spatial plan for all marine activities would be more complex, involving a wider range of stakeholders.
Figure 3: Illustrative map from the Scottish Government’s sectoral marine plan for offshore wind depicting marine areas identified for the development of offshore wind.
The potential benefits of a more spatial approach, and increasing demand for it in the context of competing pressures on the marine environment, was recognised by the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee’s inquiry into regional marine planning.
The Committee identified an expectation among some stakeholders that Regional Marine Plans would include the spatial management of different marine activities noting that the National Marine Plan states that Regional Marine Plans should consider “Identifying areas for preferential use by specific sectors, where appropriate, following consultation and using appropriate mechanisms such as sustainability appraisal and scenario mapping”.
The Committee concluded that:
“[…] the Scottish Government consults and provides clear guidance on the appropriate use of spatial prescription of sectoral activities in Regional Marine Plans. Particular emphasis should be given to how Regional Marine Plans should contribute towards the protection and enhancement of Marine Protected Areas.”
The Scottish Government’s response to this report states that “there will be sufficient direction on the appropriate use of spatial prescription within RMPs through the requirement for RMPs to be developed in conformity with the NMP2 [National Marine Plan 2] and through the outputs of the Regional Marine Planning Forum.”
As Scotland’s marine environment becomes increasingly crowded, pressures on it are likely to increase, furthering the need for marine conservation measures. Navigating a course ahead will require a new approach from the Scottish Government that ensures communities and local stakeholders are at the helm. The forthcoming second National Marine Plan could provide a key mechanism for greater community involvement in marine planning decisions.
Opportunities for further scrutiny include:
- The Scottish Government’s commitment to bring forward management measures for existing Marine Protected Areas and Priority Marine Features.
- Proposed nature restoration targets in the anticipated Natural Environment Bill.
- The development of fisheries management plans as required by the Fisheries Act 2020.
- Scrutiny of the Strategic Biodiversity Framework and Delivery Plan.
Damon Davies, SPICe Research