Ministerial Statement on the creation of a network of MPAs

Ministerial Statement on the creation of a network of Marine Protected Areas (laid in The Scottish Parliament on 1 September 2010).

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the Act”) created new powers for Scottish Ministers to designate Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Scottish territorial waters in order to protect marine biodiversity and geodiversity and contribute to a UK and international network of MPAs. Section 79(6) of the Act places a duty on Scottish Ministers to make a statement about the principles that they intend to follow when designating MPAs under section 79(1).

The MPA powers in the Act complement the powers in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to designate MPAs in offshore waters adjacent to Scotland to protect marine biodiversity and geodiversity. Section 123(6) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 includes an equivalent duty for Scottish Ministers to make a statement about the principles that they intend to follow when designating MPAs. Section 123(8) includes a power to revise the statement.

This statement fulfils the duty in section 79(6) of the Act and revises the statement for offshore waters adjacent to Scotland that was laid in March 2010. The statement therefore applies to Scottish inshore and offshore waters.

The powers in both Acts will be used in an integrated way to develop a MPA network that delivers our priorities at the Scottish, UK and international level

A network of MPAs in Scotland’s seas, which contributes to a wider MPA network in co-operation with other countries, is a key part of the Scottish Government’s strategy for marine nature conservation. The strategy will be delivered through a 3 pillar approach, recognising the value of (i) protected sites, (ii) protected species and (iii) wider policies and initiatives that contribute to our conservation aims. The MPA network, in combination with the new marine planning framework, is also an important part of our wider strategy for managing Scotland’s seas, which aims to integrate conservation and other marine activities in pursuing a vision for ‘clean healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas’.

The Scottish Government anticipates that the new nature conservation MPAs, along with existing protected sites in our marine environment, will contribute to achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and deliver our contribution to the ecologically coherent network of MPAs under the OSPAR convention on the protection of the marine environment in the North East Atlantic

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the network, which will include Natura 2000, Ramsar, SSSIs and the new MPAs, is ecologically coherent and will be substantially in place by the end of 2012. We will also consider on a case by case basis whether other area-based measures should be recognised as contributing to the aims of the network.

Guidance has been developed under the OSPAR Convention on the key design features associated with ecological coherence. The OSPAR agreement can be found here and the key elements are listed below:

• Representation – To support the sustainable use, protection and conservation of marine biological diversity and ecosystems, areas which best represent the range of species, habitats and ecological processes (for which MPAs are a suitable measure) should be considered for inclusion.
• Replication – Replication of features in separate MPAs in each biogeographic area is desirable where it is possible in order to contribute to resilience and the aims of the network.
• Size of site – The appropriate size of a site should be determined by the purpose of the site and be sufficiently large to maintain the integrity of the feature for which it is selected.
• Adequacy – the MPA network should be of adequate size to deliver its ecological objectives.
• Connectivity – the MPA network should take into account the linkages between marine ecosystems and the dependence of some species and habitats on processes that occur outside the MPA concerned.
• Management – MPAs should be managed to ensure the protection of the features for which they were selected and to support the functioning of an ecologically coherent network.

The Scottish Government intends to consider these principles in the context of the seas around Scotland. In partnership with our statutory nature conservation advisers (Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)) we will consider this guidance and guidelines on the use of the MPA powers in Scotland’s seas in order to contribute to the development of a MPA network. The guidelines are still under development but include 8 principles on MPA networks which we intend to follow:

1. The MPA network should be capable of delivering Scotland’s MPA commitments, including national and international priorities for the conservation of priority marine features.
2. The purpose of the MPA network will be to deliver benefits for marine features and to support wider ecosystem function within the context of a 3 pillar approach. The network should safeguard marine features (relating to both biodiversity and geodiversity) in Scottish waters and, through sound management, deliver recovery where practicable.
3. The MPA network will include features considered as priorities for area-based protection in Scottish waters, including features considered to be threatened and/or declining, and/or representing the range of features within Scotland’s seas.
4. Individual sites will be considered for their merit in contributing to ecological coherence of the network[1], but where possible preference will be given to the selection of areas with multiple features, including those of interest for both biodiversity and geodiversity. Functional units and processes which underpin these features (for ecology, geology and geomorphology) will be taken into account through boundary setting and management.
5. Network development will take account of the distinctive biogeographical differences of our seas. The proportion of each feature included within the MPA network will vary to reflect factors such as the importance of the feature and the element of risk to its survival in Scottish waters.
6. The MPA network will consist of a range of different types of protected areas, including European Marine Sites and Nature Conservation MPAs designated under section 79(1) of the Marine (Scotland) Act and section 116 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act.. Other types of area-based measures which offer protection to marine features may be recognised as contributing to Scotland’s MPA network. These areas will follow the same scientific assessment process as Nature conservation MPAs to evaluate the contribution to national priorities these areas could offer.
7. MPAs forming part of the network will be managed so as to deliver long-term protection to the features they contain. An MPA network will contribute to Government objectives on the environment, which in turn will help achieve broader objectives, including sustainable economic growth.
8. Significant progress towards identifying Nature Conservation MPAs to complete the network will have been made by the end of 2012.

In basing our decisions on the best available scientific evidence we will draw on the expertise of our statutory nature conservation advisers (SNH and JNCC) together with other evidence from Marine Scotland Science, the wider scientific community and sea-user communities.

A fundamental principle of our approach to marine nature conservation is that conservation should be integrated with productive and sustainable use of the seas. It is important therefore that users of the seas should be actively involved in our conservation policy and that the MPA network and its sites are well understood and supported. In ensuring we create an ecologically coherent network, the Scottish Government wants to minimise any adverse social and economic impacts and wherever possible to work with the grain of sustainable economic use of the seas. We believe that we should encourage the co-existence of MPAs and social and economic activities where they are mutually compatible as this exemplifies the key spirit of sustainable development. This should be reflected in marine planning. Information on the socio-economic importance of our seas is important to the development and management of the MPA network and marine planning.

Management of the network of sites should be proportionate and ensure its long term value. A presumption of use by all marine users is the default with additional management of an activity only required if it is known or likely to damage the site’s protected features, thus conflicting with the conservation objectives of the site and therefore endangering the site’s contribution to the MPA network. We expect evidence to result in differing conservation objectives for sites, ranging from maintenance of existing habitats to recovery of damaged or diminished features. Similarly we expect for some sites there will be a choice about the management measures that are felt likely to deliver those objectives. We wish to be clear about the implications of those choices, e.g feasibility of recovery of existing habitats in the relevant location. Co-existence of activities will be encouraged where possible but we recognise that some activities in some areas may need to be controlled or excluded, meaning that the nature and intensity of human activities is likely to vary between sites.

As part of this management process, and to account for a marine environment which varies both naturally and under external pressures such as climate change, MPAs can be moved or decommissioned to secure the network’s long term aims and ensure it is still protecting the features it was designated to protect. The Scottish Government also recognises the contribution of certain types of habitats to mitigating against climate change. We will work to maximise where possible links between MPAs and protecting habitats that provide this service.

Designation and management of Marine Protected Areas and the ecologically coherent network will significantly contribute to the Scottish Government’s efforts to integrate policies to achieve our vision for clean healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas.

This statement of principles will be kept under review, and the Scottish Government will continue to keep Parliament informed of developments. The marine conservation strategy and MPA guidelines will also be placed in SPICE once finalised.

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[1]Ecological coherence as defined by OSPAR

Category: Scottish Government News