JNCC's Advice on Scientific Questions Raised in Relation to Offshore Waters
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JNCC Report No. 518 JNCC’s advice on scientific questions raised in relation to offshore waters during the 2013 Marine Scotland consultation on Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) May 2014 © JNCC, Peterborough 2014 ISSN 0963 8901 For further information please contact: Joint Nature Conservation Committee Monkstone House City Road Peterborough PE1 1JY www.jncc.defra.gov.uk This report should be cited as: JNCC. 2014. JNCC’s advice on selected responses to the 2013 Marine Scotland consultation on Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). JNCC, Peterborough. JNCC Report, No. 518 Summary Over the summer of 2013, the Scottish Government undertook a public consultation on possible Nature Conservation MPAs (pMPAs), alongside parallel consultations on the draft National Marine Plan, Priority Marine Features (PMFs) and draft sectoral plans for offshore renewable energy1. Marine Scotland sought JNCC’s advice on some broad scientific issues raised in their consultation responses, and site specific advice in response to questions on pMPAs located within Scotland’s offshore waters. Our advice only focuses on matters raised during the consultation that were of a scientific nature, and does not respond to legislative and policy interpretation issues, or questions relating to policy for MPA management. 1 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation 3 Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. Consultation responses .............................................................................................. 6 1.2. Marine Scotland’s request for JNCC advice on consultation responses ...................... 6 1.3. Review of site advice for offshore pMPAs ................................................................... 7 2. General responses and JNCC’s feedback ...................................................................... 8 2.1. Replication and representation ................................................................................... 8 2.2. Contribution to an ecologically coherent network ........................................................ 9 2.3. MPA Search Features .............................................................................................. 12 2.4. Wider representivity .................................................................................................. 14 2.5. Burrowed mud in Scottish waters ............................................................................. 15 2.6. Seabirds in the network ............................................................................................ 19 2.7. Marine mammals in the network ............................................................................... 19 2.8. Evidence principles ................................................................................................... 20 2.9. Boundary setting principles ....................................................................................... 23 2.10. Conservation objectives .......................................................................................... 25 2.11. Evidence of impact of activities ............................................................................... 26 2.12. Broader ecosystem function and ecological processes in the network .................... 27 2.13. Approach to management ...................................................................................... 28 2.13.1 General approach to management .................................................................... 28 2.13.2 Fisheries Management ...................................................................................... 30 2.13.3 Management of licensed activities ..................................................................... 30 2.13.4 Military Activity .................................................................................................. 32 2.14. Survey and monitoring ............................................................................................ 32 2.15. Connectivity ............................................................................................................ 33 3. Site specific responses ................................................................................................ 35 3.1. Fladen Ground pMPAs ............................................................................................. 35 3.2. East of Gannet and Montrose Fields ......................................................................... 37 3.3. Northern North Sea pMPAs ...................................................................................... 38 3.3.1 Firth of Forth Banks Complex .............................................................................. 39 3.3.2. Norwegian Boundary Sediment Plain ................................................................. 40 3.3.3. Turbot Bank ....................................................................................................... 40 3.4. Faroe Shetland Channel pMPAs .............................................................................. 42 3.5. Hatton-Rockall Basin ................................................................................................ 45 3.6. Hebridean slope pMPAs ........................................................................................... 46 4 3.6.1 Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope ....................................................................... 46 3.6.2 South-west Sula Sgeir and Hebridean Slope ....................................................... 47 3.6.3 The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount ................................................. 47 3.7. North-west Orkney .................................................................................................... 49 3.8. Rosemary Bank Seamount ....................................................................................... 51 3.9. West Shetland Shelf ................................................................................................. 52 4. Conclusion and next steps ........................................................................................... 53 5. References .................................................................................................................. 54 5 1. Introduction The Scottish Government launched a formal public consultation on possible Nature Conservation MPAs on 25 July 2013, alongside parallel consultations on the draft National Marine Plan, Priority Marine Features (PMFs) and draft sectoral plans for offshore renewable energy2. The 16-week consultation period ended on 13 November 2013. Marine Scotland took forward a comprehensive programme of consultation events and publicity opportunities, combined under the banner of ‘Planning Scotland’s Seas’. Fifty-six public consultation events took place around Scotland between 19 August and 30 October 2013. Coordinated by Marine Scotland, the event series included a number of JNCC and/or Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) led MPA drop-in sessions, and provided the opportunity for sea users and members of the public to find out about Nature Conservation MPAs. JNCC staff attended 14 of the events. Respondents were invited to submit their opinions regarding the scientific case for designation, possible management options, the potential socio-economic impacts (based on Marine Scotland’s sustainability appraisal), and the ecological coherence of the resultant network. 1.1 Consultation responses The MPA part of the ‘Planning Scotland’s Seas’ consultation generated the most responses, with over 14,000 responses submitted. The majority of the responses came from Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and community group led campaigns supporting the overall concept or specific local proposals respectively, although some called for more areas and features to be added to the network. Notwithstanding the campaign responses, Marine Scotland received 332 MPA related responses, of which 216 came from individuals and 116 from organisations. Those responses that could be made public were uploaded to the Scottish Government publications web pages3 on 23 December 2013. Responses to the consultation covered a broad range of topics, from more general comments on the MPA network and site selection process, through to more site specific comments on both inshore and offshore sites. The full spectrum of positions was voiced within the responses, from respondents calling for more MPAs for a greater number of features, through to those who did not support the need for MPAs. Several responses made general comments regarding the boundaries of offshore pMPAs, with two respondents including in their submission revised boundary proposals for a limited number of pMPAs. 1.2 Marine Scotland’s request for JNCC advice on consultation responses Marine Scotland officials undertook a preliminary review of the responses and at the end of December 2013 formally requested that JNCC consider specific scientific and evidential aspects of 40 responses. This report provides JNCC’s scientific advice to Marine Scotland on broad issues raised in these 40 consultation responses (Section 2), as well as our site specific advice in response 2 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation 3 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/12/5987 6 to questions on pMPAs located within Scotland’s offshore waters (Section 3). Our responses to the broader