Scottish Natural Heritage Joint Nature Conservation Committee Commissioned Report No. 547 Advice to the Scottish Government on the selection of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the development of the Scottish MPA network Photography From top left-hand corner working sequentially in rows across the page to bottom right-hand corner – Images 1, 4, 5, 12 and 18 © Paul Kay, Marine Wildlife Photo Agency (http://www.marinewildlife.co.uk) Image 2 © Sue Scott Image 22 © Richard Shucksmith (www.rshucksmith.co.uk) Images 11 and 21 © Paul Naylor (www.marinephoto.co.uk) Images 6, 8, 14 and 25 © Crown copyright, Marine Scotland Image 10 © BIS and JNCC Image 20 © JNCC Images 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 15, 16, 17, 19, 23 and 24 © SNH ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT Commissioned Report No. 547 Advice to the Scottish Government on the selection of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the development of the Scottish MPA network For further information on this report please contact: Scottish Natural Heritage Joint Nature Conservation Committee Great Glen House Inverdee House INVERNESS ABERDEEN IV3 8NW AB11 9QA Telephone: 01463 725000 Telephone: 01224 266550 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] This report should be quoted as: Scottish Natural Heritage and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. (2012). Advice to the Scottish Government on the selection of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the development of the Scottish MPA network. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 547 This report, or any part of it, should not be reproduced without the permission of Scottish Natural Heritage or the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. This permission will not be withheld unreasonably. This report was commissioned as part of the Scottish MPA Project and the views expressed by the author(s) should not be taken as the views and policies of Scottish Ministers. © Scottish Natural Heritage & Joint Nature Conservation Committee 2012 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Advice to the Scottish Government on the selection of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the development of the Scottish MPA network Commissioned Report No. 547 Year of publication: 2012 Background This document sets out the formal advice from SNH and JNCC to Marine Scotland on the identification of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposals to protect biodiversity and geodiversity in Scotland’s seas. These MPA proposals will also help fulfil Scotland’s contribution to wider networks of MPAs at a European and global scale. Where we use ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ in this advice we mean SNH and JNCC. Scotland’s marine environment is dynamic and varied and supports not only a wide diversity of animals and plants but also provides a range of vital ecosystem services including food, renewable energy, leisure and recreational opportunities. The Scottish MPA Project helps deliver the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering a ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse marine and coastal environment that meets the long term needs of people and nature’. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 contains provisions to designate Nature Conservation MPAs, Demonstration and Research MPAs and Historic MPAs within territorial waters. The UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 contains provisions to designate MPAs for the conservation of nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology and undersea landforms in offshore waters. This report addresses the selection of Nature Conservation MPAs in all of Scotland’s seas, under both Acts. Our advice does not cover Historic MPAs or Demonstration and Research MPAs. Historic Scotland is providing advice on the former and Marine Scotland on the latter. Our proposals for Nature Conservation MPAs build on the existing network of areas including Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Areas (SPA), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and existing fisheries restrictions (see Figure E1). Thirty- three Nature Conservation MPA proposals are recommended, with further work proposed for four MPA search locations where there is currently insufficient evidence to make firm proposals. The approach for identifying Nature Conservation MPAs draws on the best available information, and has sought input from a wide range of stakeholders at key points in the project. A five-stage process set out in the Scottish MPA Selection Guidelines has been followed: • Stage 1 - Identification of MPA search locations based on the presence of key features. • Stage 2 - Prioritisation of MPA search locations based on the qualities of the features they contain. i Figure E1 Existing protected areas and other area-based measures that contribute to the protection of Scotland’s marine environment (designated for habitats and species with marine associations / components) ii • Stage 3 - Assessing the scale an MPA search location needs to be in order to maintain the integrity of the features it contains. • Stage 4 - Assessing the ability to manage features effectively within an MPA search location as part of a Nature Conservation MPA. • Stage 5 - Prioritising potential areas for MPAs according to their contribution to the MPA network. The Scottish MPA Selection Guidelines listed 41 MPA search features of biodiversity importance in Scotland’s seas for which MPAs were considered an appropriate protection measure and for which sufficient data were likely to be available. The development of the MPA network followed a regional approach using the OSPAR regions. Scotland’s seas fall into four OSPAR regions: Region I (Arctic waters), Region II (Greater North Sea), Region III (Celtic Seas), and Region V (Wider Atlantic). In our view nine (all seabed habitats) of the 41 search features are adequately protected by existing protected areas. We consider other area-based measures afford adequate protection to one further MPA search feature (blue ling). There were insufficient data available to assess a further four (burrowing sea anemone aggregations, European spiny lobster, heart cockle aggregations and native oyster) in detail against the MPA Selection Guidelines. Consequently SNH and JNCC identified 27 of the original 41 MPA search features as priorities for identifying Nature Conservation MPA proposals in Scotland’s seas. Before applying the MPA Selection Guidelines more widely to Scotland’s seas, we assessed what opportunies there were to enhance the protection of any of the MPA search features by overlaying a Nature Conservation MPA on to existing designations or other area-based measures. SNH and JNCC also used available data on recent human activities and developments to identify least damaged/more natural locations. These locations were examined to determine whether they contained records of MPA search features and should therefore be assessed against the MPA Selection Guidelines. Following work on the 'enhancement opportunities' and least damaged/more natural locations, 12 MPA search features remained as priorities for completing the network. The focus of subsequent work was then on identifying MPA search locations to protect multiple MPA search features. SNH and JNCC assessed all the MPA search locations against the Scottish MPA Selection Guidelines. Successful assessment determined that MPA search locations should be recommended as MPA proposals. Data confidence assessments also provide the evidence- base behind each Nature Conservation MPA proposal. In total 33 Nature Conservation MPA proposals have been developed and a further four MPA search locations remain to be fully assessed (see Figure E2). Of these 37, 20 are from enhancement opportunities to existing measures, and twelve are derived from least damaged/more natural locations. Twenty-seven of the Nature Conservation MPA proposals and four of the MPA search locations are for multiple features. Stakeholder groups submitted 27 third-party proposals in territorial waters (see Figure E3). Twelve of these contributed to eight of the Nature Conservation MPA proposals. A further three have contributed to three of the remaining MPA search locations. iii Figure E2 Nature Conservation MPA proposals and MPA search locations in Scotland’s seas iv Figure E3 Third-party Nature Conservation MPA proposals v Following identification of the Nature Conservation MPA proposals and MPA search locations, SNH and JNCC assessed the adequacy of protection of the search features. We assessed the distribution and coverage of the MPA search features against Stage 5 of the Scottish MPA Selection Guidelines, i.e. representation, replication, geographic range and variation, linkages (where known / understood) and resilience of features within the network. These reflect the principles proposed by the OSPAR Commission’s guidance for MPA networks. Of the 41 MPA search features, three are not represented within the network (burrowing sea anemone aggregations, heart cockle aggregations and European spiny lobster). Insufficient data are available to inform the identification of Nature Conservation MPA proposals for these features. Of the remaining 38 MPA search features, 35 will be adequately protected within the evolving Scottish MPA network. The remaining three features (basking shark, common skate and white-beaked dolphin) will still not be adequately protected within the network. All three will be represented within one Nature Conservation MPA each, but in our view (on the basis of their occurrence and distribution in Scottish waters) that is not adequate according to the