Last month (July 2023) the Scottish Government released their Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture, setting out its plans for how the industry should develop all the way to 2045. Aquaculture in Scotland is big business, adding £885 million to the economy in 2018. It is dominated by salmon farming which produced 205,393 tonnes of farmed Atlantic salmon in 2021. In fact, Sottish salmon is not just Scotland’s, but the UK’s, largest food export. This is the first time the Scottish Government has set out a vision for the industry and it is an ambitious one. Balancing recognition of benefits that aquaculture can provide and encouraging its continued development, whilst simultaneously understanding the need of the industry to work within environmental limits, protect sensitive habitats, and in some cases, actively restore them.
The Vision is not itself a new policy, but instead guides policy development and sets a number of goals and outcomes that everyone should work towards achieving. It was developed with Scotland’s legally binding 5 guiding principles of the environment in mind, effectively ensuring that protecting the environment is equally considered in the agenda alongside economic and social considerations.
Scottish Environment LINK were invited to take a seat on Scotland’s Aquaculture Council and welcomed the opportunity to help shape the Vision and advise on areas where we felt protection for the environment did not go far enough. We were very pleased to see many of these recommendations being included in the Vision, such as committing to information on the regulatory performance of aquaculture being made publicly available, and the principle that unsuitable aquaculture sites can be designated aquaculture-free zones rather than automatically passed on for redevelopment. In particular the Vision’s overall focus on Environment as one of the three key themes is welcomed.
The Scottish Aquaculture Council is a great opportunity for collaboration between government, industry, NGOs, scientists and other stakeholders to meet and outline their shared ambitions for the future of aquaculture. A key area acknowledged within the Vision is the need for better data collection and use. This means working more collaboratively, sharing information to understand best practices, using the precautionary principle when we do not have all of the answers and creating a more holistic, adaptive regulatory system for the industry that considers the cumulative impact of all activity within an ecosystem.
But now the hard work begins. There are some bold, and in our opinion, long overdue commitments in the new vision that we want to see come to fruition, it will require the focus and dedication of everyone involved. We would like to see the Vision’s aims reflected in constructive workplans with definitive timelines as soon as possible. We would also like to see the Scottish Government’s approach of multi-stakeholder engagement continued alongside this, with greater inclusion of local community representation. Scottish Environment LINK will continue to use our role on the Scottish Aquaculture Council to advocate for the environment, ensure that the commitments within the Vision are implemented in a timely manner and that progress on these commitments are being measured and achieved.
By Sarah Evans, Aquaculture Policy Officer for the Marine Conservation Society
From the sewage spilling into Scotland’s rivers and seas, to the toxic chemicals entering our food, our right to a healthy environment is being violated.
We face a triple planetary emergency of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the pollution of our air, land and water. It’s a sadly familiar story and one that LINK members encounter every day.
Yet if all goes well, something might be about to shift.
Recognising our right to a healthy environment
For the first time, the right to a healthy environment will be enshrined in Scots law as part of the new statutory framework for human rights in Scotland. The Scottish Government is set to incorporate the right to a healthy environment as part of its Human Rights Bill, delivering a package of new rights to empower people across Scotland.
The right to a healthy environment includes both substantive and procedural elements. The substantive element of the right includes six interdependent features: clean air, a safe climate, clean water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments in which to live, work, and play, and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. These are set to be recognised as fundamental standalone rights for the first time. The procedural element relates to the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice.
The right to a healthy environment could be transformative for communities and campaigners fighting for a fairer and greener future – but only if new rights have ‘teeth’ and are enforceable against public bodies and polluters.
To this end, ERCS is urging all members of LINK to respond to Part 5 of the Human Rights Bill consultation: Recognising the right to a healthy environment. It’s imperative that Scotland’s green movement speaks with one voice, demanding not only that the right to a healthy environment is recognised, but that both the substantive and procedural elements are comprehensive, enforceable, and consistent with international best practice and the environmental justice principles enshrined in the Aarhus convention.
A recent LINK/ERCS report explains how the substantive features of the right can translate into meaningful change, through defining each feature according to the highest standard and applying enforcement mechanisms which keep pace with international best practice. A strong and unified response can ensure the government listens and puts robust enforcement mechanisms in place that uphold access to justice.
Image credit: Cailean Hall Gardiner
What about enforcement?
This is a real opportunity for people to take back control – and exercise their rights to challenge profit-hungry developers, polluting industries, and complacent public bodies. Yet the Human Rights Bill is only half the story. For environmental democracy to really take hold, we need a justice system that allows people to effectively enforce their rights.
This is where the picture sours.
The Aarhus Convention has repeatedly ruled that Scotland is in breach of the Convention’s access to justice requirements. Article 9(4) states that access to justice must be ‘fair, equitable, timely, and not prohibitively expensive.’ The Scottish Government are now required to set out reforms they will enact to achieve compliance by October 2024, and these will be key to ensuring the procedural elements of the right to a healthy environment.
However, rather than progressing on these issues, the Government risks backsliding.
A report to Parliament, triggered by Section 41 of the Continuity Act 2021, was supposed to consider ‘(a) whether the law in Scotland on access to justice on environmental matters is effective and sufficient, and (b) whether and, if so, how the establishment of an environmental court could enhance the governance arrangements.’
Its conclusions are deeply disappointing. We urgently need a dedicated Scottish Environment Court with comprehensive jurisdiction to increase access to justice, address the current fragmentation in routes to remedy, and develop judicial expertise in environmental matters. Such a court would reduce costs, increase efficiency, and speed up the process for resolving environmental governance disputes.
For many years LINK members have been campaigning to reduce the barriers to access to justice on the environment. As Scotland’s nature continues to deteriorate, it is vital that we push back against the erroneous arguments of the environmental governance report through forceful engagement in the subsequent consultation – restating the case for a dedicated environment court and an improved environmental governance regime. We need comprehensive reforms to legal expenses and dedicated legal institutions, so that we can effectively stand up for the environment in a court of law.
Image credit: Kris Frampton
Conclusion
Scotland is at the crossroads. Despite the promise of new environmental rights on the horizon, we risk squandering a once in a generation opportunity to transform Scotland’s environmental governance landscape. This is bad news for the natural world, and for our own health and wellbeing, with mounting evidence highlighting how environmental harms compound other forms of social and economic inequality.
LINK has fought long and hard to reform Scotland’s antiquated and fragmented legal system so that it better serves people and the environment. Now is the critical moment to break down the barriers which prevent access to justice and leave our right to a healthy environment unprotected.
Scotland’s environmental movement must once again, speak up loud and clear to demand better.
By Fanny Royanez, Marine Policy and Engagement Officer
Scotland’s seas are amazing, and they matter to us all. Many people will be spending time on Scotland’s coasts this summer – rain or shine. Even just a day trip to the beach can feel like a little holiday, refreshing and replenishing us.
That’s not all, of course. As anyone who watched the ocean episode of David Attenborough’s Wild Isles series will know, our seas are home to the most fantastic array of wildlife, much of which is hidden deep beneath the waves. They’re of huge importance for the climate too, as ocean ecosystems can store even more carbon than those on land.
Our seas are a vital resource, central to the lives of communities that rely on marine industries like fishing and wildlife tourism. And they are a source of food.
We all want Scotland’s seas to be healthy and teeming with life. But the threats facing our seas are immense, and we need to act fast to help them recover.
Why do we need to restore our seas to health?
The scientific evidence makes it clear that Scotland’s marine species and habitats are in serious decline. Most of our seabed is in poor condition, with some habitats, like seagrass and flame shell beds, covering just a tiny fraction of their former areas.
Five million seabirds breed around our coastline every year, but many species are in steep decline due to climate change, unsustainable fisheries, disease, pollution and the impact of invasive non-native species.
Recent bird flu outbreaks have made things worse. It’s estimated that up to 90% of some great skua breeding populations may have been lost in Shetland’s Hermaness Nature Reserve, for example. Great skuas – or ‘bonxies’ as they are also known – are top predators, and this level of loss will have a dramatic impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The effects of climate change are also making themselves felt. Scotland’s seas have experienced extreme and unprecedented heatwaves this summer, with water temperatures up to 4°C above normal in some places. Marine heatwaves pose a serious threat to wildlife, risking high levels of mortality and loss of breeding grounds. They have led to concern for industries such as salmon farming that rely on healthy seas.
Image: Wynand van Poortvliet, Unsplash
Ocean recovery zones
So what can we do to protect our seas and help them recover?
Tackling climate change is part of the answer. But caring for our seas and managing them well will also require a number of carefully planned and interlinked measures. Experience worldwide shows that strictly protecting certain defined and limited areas from damaging industrial activity is a key piece of the jigsaw.
Strictly protected areas provide dedicated havens for vulnerable and depleted marine life to recover. They become, in effect, ocean recovery zones. As marine animals and plants are able to grow larger and live longer, they reproduce more, and their increasing populations can overflow into surrounding waters. This helps marine life recover both within and beyond the strictly protected area. And these ecological benefits in turn support marine industries, including fishing and tourism.
Internationally agreed standards, including the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, call for at least 10% of the ocean to be strictly protected to enable large-scale ecosystem recovery. Currently, less than 1% of Scotland’s seas are strictly protected from damaging human activities.
Scottish Government proposals
The severe threats facing our ocean, and the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of strictly protected areas, led the Scottish Government to release proposals earlier this year to create ‘Highly Protected Marine Areas’ (HPMAs) in 10% of Scotland’s seas. These areas would have been given the strongest possible form of protection.
The proposals didn’t include any suggested sites for HPMAs. In part due to the uncertainty involved, HPMAs became a controversial topic, with many members of Scotland’s coastal and island communities in particular expressing concern that restrictions on fishing would damage the sustainability of areas dependent on the industry.
In June, the Scottish Government announced, ‘the proposal as consulted on will not be progressed. That means that we will no longer seek to implement HPMAs across 10 per cent of Scotland’s seas by 2026.’ However, Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan confirmed that the Scottish Government remains ‘firmly committed’ to ‘enhancing marine protection’, recognising the EU target of strictly protecting at least 10% of its seas by 2030. She also stated her commitment to ensuring that ‘communities across Scotland are central to the process’, and emphasised the role of coastal and island communities in shaping future policy on Scotland’s seas.
Image: Longspined sea-scorpion Taurulus bubalis on maerl bed, South-west Loch Gairloch. Graham Saunders, Nature Scot.
Communities at the heart of ocean recovery
Community involvement will indeed be key. While healthy seas are vitally important for all of us, they play a particularly central role in the lives of Scotland’s coastal and island communities.
It’s crucial that measures to protect our seas, including strictly protected ocean recovery zones, are designed collaboratively, with these communities engaged at the heart of the process. Our best chance of restoring our seas to health will come from communities, environmental organisations, fishers and other marine industries working together with government.
That’s why in March we and other organisations wrote to the Scottish Government calling for improved stakeholder participation along with independent scientific scrutiny of its proposals for marine protection.
One of the only parts of Scotland’s sea that already has strict protection, in north Lamlash Bay off the isle of Arran, has protected status brought about through pressure and organising by local people, showing the importance of community involvement. Since the Lamlash Bay ‘no take zone’ was established, the area has seen dramatic ecological improvement. We need to see this success replicated around Scotland’s coast.
Everyone in Scotland wants to see our seas in a better condition, and creating ocean recovery zones will be a crucial step to restoring our ocean biodiversity.
Scottish Environment LINK members are calling on the Scottish Government to honour its commitment to set Scotland’s seas on the path to recovery by 2030, and create strictly protected ocean recovery zones in 10% of Scotland’s seas.
The Scottish Government is expected to develop new proposals this autumn for enhancing our marine environment, and we’re looking forward to contributing to this urgent work. Now is the time to work together to find transformative ways to help restore our amazing seas to health.
Featured image: Dead man’s fingers and anemones below the kelp zone in Loch nam Madadh, Credits to Nature Scot (Photographer: George Stoyle)
Scotland is a land of contrast. Contrasts in our landscapes, in our geography and weather patterns, our language, culture and our traditions.
Scotland has world-leading access legislation ensuring that everyone, no matter who they are, can access and enjoy Scotland’s outdoors, as long as they adhere to the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
By contrast, Scotland also has one of the most inequitable land ownership systems in the world, where just 0.008% of the population owns 50% of the land.
We are, in Scotland and across the planet, in a climate and nature emergency. The changing climate, and the ongoing and significant decline in Scotland’s nature, is testing the resilience of our landscapes and our seas.
Climate change brings more frequent storms, unpredictable rainfall, high winds and widely varying temperatures. Species and habitats are finding it harder than ever to survive, with changes in their environment happening much more quickly than they can cope with.
This is reflected in the ongoing declines in Scotland’s wildlife. In 2019, the State of Nature report showed that 11% of species were under threat of extinction, with 49% of species in decline and 62% showing strong changes. The 2023 report is not going to show an improving picture.
Without biodiversity, the landscape we’re accustomed to and love, and the ecosystems and services we rely on are changing and becoming much less reliable and resilient. Habitat loss and fragmentation on land and at sea is one of the biggest drivers of change.
It makes species and habitats much less flexible and it renders ecosystem services such as flood protection, water provision and pollination much more uncertain.
There is no doubt we need to turn this around. If we are to continue living the way we’re used to, and with the benefits of wildlife and nature we enjoy and promote to the world, we need to change the way we manage our land. We have no choice.
Management of our uplands, our woodlands, our farmland is all about stewardship. Land managers, farmers and crofters are stewards of the land on our behalf and for future generations.
Theirs is therefore a long term view – how can or should I treat this piece of land so I can hand it on in better condition to future generations?
This long-term view is also an ecological view.
Ecosystems are amazing – they can absorb huge amounts of change until suddenly they can’t. Ecosystems are also extremely complex. We don’t know when they will no longer be able to cope with change.
But once they change, change is dramatic and reversing or correcting that change takes an exceedingly long time, with exceedingly high costs. We only need look at the impact of cod stock collapse or desertification in other countries of the world.
If land managers and farmers are to adapt to the changing circumstances that we are all witnessing in the news and outside our front doors, they need to know not just what those changes will look like but also what they are expected to do about it and whether they be will be supported in adapting.
THIS is where a Just Transition is so vital. Unless they know, and unless they are brought into the conversation about future land use and future agriculture, they can’t plan and can’t adapt. The Just Transition Commission’s visit to Grantown-on -Spey in May 2023 was part of this process.
Planning environmental sustainability into any business is not an obstacle – it is a necessity and a responsibility. The responsibility of the business owner or manager is to ensure that the business can keep running into the long term.
If we look forward into the long term, a decade or more from now, we know that rainfall, wind speed and temperatures will be even more unpredictable. Wildlife will find it increasingly difficult to move to more suitable habitats or to stay where they are and survive.
Unless we make sure they can survive, or move, species will continue to disappear. And once they disappear, we lose pollinators, flood protection habitats such as peatlands and natural flood plains, grasslands and woodlands, healthy and productive soils.
The Just Transition is a social contract for the ecological transition we know is coming. Everyone must be involved, everyone must have their say and everyone must be clear on what is happening and what they need to do.
The climate targets, the upcoming nature targets and the Scottish Government’s clear vision for sustainable and regenerative agriculture are all very welcome. But we will only reach them if we work together and enable everyone to contribute and play their part.
Science is telling us we must act now. If we don’t, it is future generations who will lose out and who won’t experience the joy of Scotland’s landscapes and the wildlife that lives there.
The red squirrel is a true emblem of the Scottish countryside. To catch a glimpse of fiery red fur flickering up a tree and out of sight is a rare treat for most of us. There are only 140,000 red squirrels left in the UK, and more than 75% of these reside in Scotland. Their decline has been driven both by habitat loss and the introduction of the invasive non-native grey squirrel from North America. Grey squirrels outcompete reds for food and nesting sites, and spread squirrelpox, a virus which greys are immune to but which is deadly to reds. When greys move into a red squirrel territory, left unchecked, they can overthrow the native red population within 15 years.
Can we save Scotland’s red squirrels?
The grey squirrel exerts such pressure on the red squirrel that, if the current situation was left to play out, there would not be much hope for the native red in Scotland. The UK’s core red squirrel population in the Scottish Highlands is threatened by the expanding grey-only population in the Central Belt, and the remaining reds in South Scotland are consistently challenged by the influx of greys from Northern England.
Fortunately, there has long been abundant support for the red squirrel’s cause here in Scotland. Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS) was formed in 2009 by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and partners (the current partnership includes NatureScot; Forestry and Land Scotland; Scottish Forestry; Scottish Land and Estates; and RSPB Scotland; with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund; Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority; and Aberdeen City Council). The establishment of this successful project brought together volunteer efforts from around the country and installed a coordinated, strategic approach to grey squirrel control on a landscape scale.
Now, 14 years on, grey squirrel control officers, with support from a dedicated network of volunteer monitors and trappers and grant-funded landowners, continue to work in priority areas, where the incursion of greys most threatens core red squirrel populations. Through this coordinated effort, SSRS demonstrates that it is possible to halt the regional decline of red squirrels and allow them to expand into new areas with targeted grey squirrel control.
So why not just let grey squirrels replace reds to fill the squirrel niche in Scotland?
Aside from wanting to save one of the nation’s most loved mammals for future generations to enjoy, there are other reasons to keep grey squirrel numbers under control. Unhindered, grey squirrel populations can reach densities eight or more times those of red squirrels. This is much more squirrel action than our native broadleaved woodlands can withstand, and it is at these densities that bark stripping becomes a real problem. Indeed, gangs of grey squirrels have been known to decimate whole woodlands! In England, where the majority of woodland cover is broadleaved, and where grey squirrel densities are much higher than they are in Scotland, tree damage costs the forestry sector an estimated £31 million annually.
Thanks partly to the grey squirrel’s preference for broadleaves, and partly to the work of SSRS, the conifer-dominated Scottish forestry sector is not yet feeling quite so nibbled. The Scottish Government, however, through its statutory forestry agencies, and in partnership with environmental NGOs, is actively engaged in landscape-wide native woodland restoration programs that will likely increase our national share of broadleaves. Initiatives such as Riverwoods – reconnecting the riparian habitat along our waterways, and the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest – revitalising the rare and important temperate rainforest ecosystem of the West Coast, could be put at risk by an unchecked grey squirrel population in Scotland.
What is next for SSRS?
Luckily, the SSRS program is a tried and tested approach already in place for keeping grey squirrel numbers down and stopping their spread into new areas. However, the program is now coming to the end of its latest round of funding and is in a Transition Phase. The Final Report from SSRS’ last major project phase (Developing Community Action) was released last month with a clear overarching recommendation that centrally coordinated, professional grey squirrel control and monitoring should be continued in the priority areas long-term to ensure a future for the red squirrel in Scotland. It is, however, no longer sustainable for this work to be delivered on short-term funding cycles with a charity responsible for leading delivery.
The draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045 provides scope for invasive grey squirrel management to be continued as part of the Government’s plan for its delivery. Continuing this work would align with the Strategy’s commitments to continue effective species recovery programs, tackle invasive non-native species, and enhance forest and woodland biodiversity.
The re-shaping of SSRS therefore provides an opportunity for the Government, through its statutory agencies and other public bodies, to follow through on its biodiversity commitments by adopting a blueprint, developed over the lifetime of the project, to sustainably deliver a coordinated landscape-scale mosaic of grey squirrel control. Doing so will not only ensure the future of the iconic red squirrel in Scotland, but will also serve to protect our vulnerable existing and restored native woodland ecosystems and the vast assemblages of life that they have the potential to support.
Guest blog by Hazel Forrest, Species Advocacy Officer at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, May 2023.
Rhododendron ponticum is one of the main threats to Scotland’s rainforest, alongside overgrazing by deer and sheep. An invasive non-native plant that is now well established in Scotland and the rest of the UK, it suppresses rainforest lichens and bryophytes, as well as the native trees which support them. The longer this issue is left unaddressed, the harder it will be to tackle and the more it will cost. This Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) week, LINK’s Woodlands Group is calling for action to tackle this well-established INNS before it’s too late.
What’s the scale of the problem?
Rhododendron ponticum affects around 140,000ha of land in the rainforest zone (map below). This figure can be broken down approximately as follows:
30,000ha needs to be cleared urgently from within woodlands
24,000ha more needs to be cleared to ensure an effective buffer.
80,000ha of other habitat also needs cleared to prevent re-invasion.
When clearing Rhododendron ponticum it is critical to act at scale and over the long-term to ensure effective removal. This can deliver biodiversity benefits and create skilled local jobs as rhododendron control is labour intensive.
What support is available to tackle Rhododendron ponticum?
Rhododendron ponticum can only be cleared effectively at population level through ensuring the cleared area can be defended to prevent reinvasion. The current grants available for removal of rhododendron include the Forestry Grant Scheme administered by Scottish Forestry for woodland areas and the agri-environment climate scheme for open ground areas. A recent source of funding is the increased, multi-landscape and multi-year Nature Restoration Fund, which is a welcomed step that was announced by the Scottish Government in November 2021.
Why doesn’t the current approach work?
In Scotland, land managers have been removing Rhododendron ponticum for many years, but the spread continues. It is time to draw a line, evaluate and come up with a different approach. In some cases, current action fails because of the lack of a joined-up approach and the failure to follow up treatment to prevent re-invasion, resulting in wasted resources. The current approach is not adequate to eradicate rhododendron, and often only achieves piecemeal removal. The longer we wait to implement properly effective control the more rhododendron grows and spreads in the meantime. The main issues with the current approach that a report has identified include:
the current limited priority control areas
the need to apply for separate grants where rhododendron occurs both on open ground, in gardens, and in woodland making an already complex application process more difficult
the short-term nature of the funding for an issue that needs to have a legacy strategy incorporated, to manage re-invasion
the lack of recognition by policy makers and funders of the vital need to tackle rhododendron on a landscape, ‘whole-population’ scale, rather than a piecemeal approach. Even if rhododendron has been effectively suppressed in one area, if neighbouring land contains untreated rhododendron, then it will spread into the treated area. Time and public money are wasted.
What can be done?
To make a real difference a new approach is required with a step change in public funding and policy support. This starts with government and statutory agency leadership which needs to provide a clear objective to halt the spread of Rhododendron ponticum, and set out a strategic road map for tackling Rhododendron ponticum at scale and over the long-term. The review of future forestry grants and development of the future agricultural support package are clear opportunities to reshape public grants to encourage, facilitate and support landowners to deal with Rhododendron ponticum at landscape scale and with long-term legacy management.
We at Plantlife are encouraging more and more people to embrace wilder lawns and enjoy all the benefits that biodiversity has to offer with the No Mow May campaign. Officially launched in 2019, Plantlife’s No Mow May urges those of us with gardens to take a pause for the summer and put our mowers away, making space on our lawns for wildflowers, pollinators, and other wildlife to thrive.
With the climate and nature crises on our doorstep, we are often looking for that one thing we can do to help. There are over 20 million gardens in the UK; consider that by simply “doing nothing for nature”, even the smallest grassy patches can help add up to an area of land equivalent to the size of East Ayrshire. A more relaxed mowing regime is just one way to contribute to combating these crises.
Nicola Hutchinson, Director of Conservation at Plantlife puts it plainly, “Wild plants and fungi are the foundation of life and shape the world we live in. However, 1 in 5 British wildflowers is under threat and we urgently need to arrest the losses. With an estimated 23 million gardens in the UK, how lawns are tended makes a huge difference to the prospects of wild plants and other wildlife. The simple action of taking the mower out of action for May can deliver big gains for nature, communities, and the climate. So, we are encouraging all to liberate lawns as never before.”
In Scotland naturally our wildflowers bloom later in May compared to the rest of the UK, but that is ok, as long as we give our wild plants a chance to grow for at least one month. In fact, Plantlife guidance recommends a balanced approach to lawn care throughout the year with the collection of lawn cuttings after each time you mow. Their team of wildflower experts encourage you to incorporate a mixture of shorter zones for sitting out in the garden, and taller, more structured areas which will help boost overall biodiversity.
No Lawn? No worries! Plantlife has several ways you can still participate in the movement of increasing biodiversity, including making a mini meadow in a window pot.
So, get out there and free your lawns by doing nothing for nature this May, and beyond!
Erin Shott, Communications and Policy Officer at Plantlife Scotland
There is a very strong global evidence base showing that Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) have a positive impact ecologically and can support the fishing industry. HPMAs, also known as marine reserves or no take zones, act as nurseries and refuges and as such benefit marine species and habitats both within the protected area and outside them.
Evidence from across the world shows that, on average, twice as much total fish biomass and fish density is found in the protected area than outside. These benefits can happen quickly, within a few years of protection, and can have a ‘spillover’ effect into surrounding waters.
To maximise both conservation and socio-economic benefits, HPMAs should be bordered by buffer zones to benefit low impact fishers. With such zones HPMAs can benefit sustainable fishing, and those engaged in it, while at the same time helping build up fish and other marine species populations across the wider sea and for future generations.
However, success will depend upon a collaborative approach with all stakeholders, including local communities, fully involved and engaged with support, access to advice and scientific evidence and independent scrutiny. The Scottish Government’s Just Transition outcomes are key in delivering success for coastal and island communities as well as Scotland’s marine biodiversity.
Background
The marine environment is one of Scotland’s greatest assets and a vital resource for communities who rely on marine activities like fishing and wildlife tourism. However, evidence shows a continuing decline of our marine ecosystems, impairing their ability to provide the life-sustaining benefits we all depend on.
In the Bute House Agreement, the Scottish Government committed to designate at least 10% of our seas as “Highly Protected Marine Areas” (HPMAs). HPMAs are areas of the sea that are placed under strict protection to support ecosystem recovery and protect against climate change. This is in line with internationally agreed standards for nature recovery and resilience (e.g. Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3), and follows the EU’s own 10% target for strict protection.
The effects of strict protection at sea have been widely documented globally, and growing evidence highlights the ecological and socioeconomic benefits of these marine reserves or no-take zones. The following briefing provides a non-exhaustive summary of the science available regarding HPMAs in the world.
Ecological benefits within HPMAs
Various HPMAs can be found worldwide, and research demonstrates their benefits on marine life within and outside their boundaries. The MPA guide helpfully provides a map of 226 MPAs, 114 of which are equivalent to the proposed Scottish HPMAs.1 HPMAs are equivalent to “marine reserves”or “no take zones” and have been abundantly studied across the world, in both tropical and temperate waters. Hundreds of surveys, often summarised in global or regional studies, show that protecting the marine environment from damaging activities leads to a sharp increase in abundance, average body size and biomass of marine species.2
A 2019 synthesis of current scientific evidence shows that HPMAs can provide greater benefits than lighter forms of protection. Placing areas of the sea under strict protection allows marine species to recover, by providing them a refuge to grow, age and reproduce. In their analysis of 24 no-take zones in the highly pressurised Mediterranean Sea, Giakoumi et al. (2017), demonstrated that high levels of protection have significant ecological benefits for fish biomass and equally positive effects for fisheries’ target species.3 The total fish biomass and density were on average twice as much in fully protected areas than outside. The study also highlighted that there was no difference in total fish biomass between partially protected and unprotected areas.
Ecological benefits can be observed within no-take zones only a few years after their creation, with increase in populations within two to five years.4 The impressive case of the Cabo Pulmo protected areas, in the Gulf of California, showed an almost five-fold increase of the fish biomass only a decade after its creation. Closer to home, research carried out in the small no take zone in north Lamlash Bay since 2010 shows a dramatic improvement – measured biodiversity has increased by 50%, while the populations of commercially important species are 2-3 times higher within the no take zone. King Scallop, (Pecten Maximus) populations have increased almost four-fold, with the scallops being older and producing more eggs. Surveys undertaken between 2012 and 2018 highlight similar effects on European lobsters. The experience in Lamlash Bay clearly demonstrates the potential spillover benefits to Scottish fishers from even small areas of strict protection.
Another great example of a successfully implemented HPMA is the French Marine Park of la Cote Bleue, created in 1982. The no-take zone of Carry-le-Rouet was created in 1983 and a second no-take zone, the reserve of La Couronne was created in 1996. Local fishermen played a key role in the creation of La Couronne HPMA, and the management of the two no-take zones: continuous dialogue between local authorities and fishermen led to management measures beyond the Carry-le-Rouet HPMA boundaries. In their study of six no-take zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Harmelin-Vivien et al (2008)5 confirmed an increase in the abundance, biomass and size of fishes inside marine reserves. They observed that the average biomass within the marine reserve of Carry was 16.3kg, compared to 2.4 kg outside the area.
Ecological and socioeconomic benefits beyond HPMA boundaries
Research worldwide6 demonstrates that, if implemented and managed well, HPMAs can have positive effects beyond their boundaries, supporting marine activities such as fisheries or tourism. As populations within the HPMAs increase in size, and individuals grow larger and live longer, they can reproduce more. This enhanced reproductive potential can then lead to the replenishment of populations adjacent to the no take areas – a “spillover” effect to fished areas.7 The spillover effect arises firstly, through the export of eggs and larvae outside the marine reserve, and secondly from the movement of juvenile or adult animals from the no take zone to adjacent waters. Studies in the Mediterranean confirmed the role of marine reserves in sustaining local fisheries for commercial species such as the spiny lobster, Palinurus elephas. Harmelin-viven et al (2007), observed a spill over effect in all the reserves they studied, thus demonstrating the long-lasting effects of strict levels of protection.
Spillover of fish was measured at up to 1959m from one of the reserve boundaries, and averaged over 500m across all the sites (Harmelin-Vivien et al, 2008). Evidence shows that the extent of the spillover effect depends on the pressure in the adjacent waters. Indeed, the spillover effect is predicted to be “smaller” in areas where adjacent waters are highly pressured.
However, HPMAs cannot be considered in isolation of other marine policies and management processes. Pauly et al. 2002 states that: “Marine protected areas (MPAs), with no-take reserves at their core, combined with a strongly limited effort in the remaining fishable areas, have been shown to have positive effects in helping to rebuild depleted stocks.”8
In order to maximise the conservation and economic benefits of HPMAs, LINK recommends that no take zones should be buffered by low impact fisheries zones, prioritising sustainable fishers who can benefit from the immediate spillover effect. Creating buffer zones would help protect low impact fisheries from displacement by giving them preferential access to waters. This would be part of meeting the Scottish Government’s Just Transition outcomes, underpinned by the 5 principles for a Just Transition, as set out by the Just Transition Commission in 2022. A collaborative approach with all stakeholders is essential to achieving conservation objectives, and to build support among stakeholders and wider society. LINK believes that successful engagement must include improved stakeholder participation with clear expectations, wider strategy and support mechanisms for affected activities, use of best available science and independent scientific scrutiny of proposals.
DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00189-7 “Increases in protected populations are often rapid, frequently doubling or tripling in two to five years”.
Harmelin-Vivien M, Le Diréach L, Bayle-Sempere J, Charbonnel E, García-Charton JA, Ody D, Pérez-Ruzafa A, Reñones O, Sánchez-Jerez P, Valle C (2008) Gradients of abundance and biomass across reserve boundaries in six Mediterranean marine protected areas: Evidence of fish spillover? Biological Conservation 141:1829-1839
Pauly, D., Christensen, V., Guénette, S., Pitcher, T. J., Sumaila, U. R., Walters, C. J., … & Zeller, D. (2002). Towards sustainability in world fisheries. Nature, 418(6898), 689-695.
Highly Protected Marine Areas are areas of the sea that are placed under strict protection to support ecosystem recovery and protect against climate change.
The Scottish Government has committed to giving a small proportion – just 10% – of our seas this strict protection. This is in line with international recommendations for nature recovery and resilience and follows the EU’s own 10% target for strict protection.
HPMAs are well-established globally and proven to have ecological benefits, which in turn can benefit fishers. The success of the ‘no-take zone’ (an area where no fishing is allowed, equivalent to an HPMA) of Carry-le-Rouet in the French Mediterranean, created in 1983, led to the fishing industry playing a key role in the establishment of a second HPMA nearby, the reserve of La Couronne.
Why do we need HPMAs in Scottish seas?
We are facing a twin nature and climate crisis, and nature’s recovery must be central to government priorities and policies. In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the impact of climate change was increasingly irreversible and called for every country and sector to take drastic action on all fronts to tackle the climate crisis. Last year, the UN Secretary General declared an “Ocean Emergency” and called for collective and urgent action to restore marine life.
In Scotland, the health of our seas is vital for communities who rely on marine activities like fishing and wildlife tourism. However, evidence shows a continuing deterioration of marine ecosystems, and some of our living seabed habitats, such as seagrass, have suffered from catastrophic decline. UK administrations have collectively failed to achieve 11 out of 15 of the ‘Good Environmental Status’ targets set by the UK Marine Strategy, with seabird populations in particular continuing to decline.
Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020 identified climate change and fishing activities that drag heavy nets across the seabed or through the water as the key pressures facing marine biodiversity.
If implemented alongside other sustainable management measures, HPMAs would provide Scotland with core zones for ecosystem recovery, helping us address the climate and nature crises and increasing our seas’ resilience to climate change. For thriving seas with healthy fish populations, we need an effective marine planning system that protects key areas, including HPMAs, so that Scotland’s seas can support species, habitats and communities.
How do HPMAs work?
HPMAs provide strong levels of protection to the marine environment by prohibiting all impacting or damaging activities in a small number of designated sites. Activities that remove or damage natural resources or that dump materials and pollutants in the sea are banned. The specific rules for Scotland’s HPMAs will be determined by the Scottish Government.
The recently published globalMPA Guide provides a helpful summary of what activities are or are not compatible with fully and highly protected areas.
HPMAs provide dedicated havens for vulnerable and depleted marine life to recover. Allowing fish, shellfish and other species to flourish in a fully protected area also benefits the many people and activities that rely upon healthy seas. The benefits from these areas overflow into surrounding waters, increasing the abundance and resilience of sea life, benefitting low impact fishing.
Analysis of the 24 no-take zones in the Mediterranean sea demonstrated that high levels of protection have significant ecological benefits for fish biomass and equally positive effects for fisheries’ target species. The total fish biomass and density were on average twice greater in fully protected areas than outside.
The community-led no take zone in Lamlash Bay off the Isle of Arran is Scotland’s only strictly protected area equivalent to a HPMA (as proposed in the recent Scottish Government consultation) and demonstrates on a small scale their potential for success. Biodiversity in the bay has increased by 50% since 2010, and the king scallop population more than trebled between 2013 and 2019. This has increased opportunities for low impact fishing and for scallop hand diving, benefitting the local economy.
Where will HPMAs be placed?
The Scottish Government is responsible for designating Scotland’s HPMA sites. Proposals will be informed and assessed by Scottish Government conservation advisors, NatureScot and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, who will suggest whether they meet the criteria to be designated as HPMAs. Proposals from organisations and members of the public will also be invited (‘third party proposals’), which will be assessed in the same way.
It is our view as members of Scottish Environment LINK that coastal, island and fishing communities should be closely involved in the process of designation as equal partners. An effective HPMA network should be spread across both inshore and offshore waters, in areas that have been degraded or that have the potential to recover to a more natural state, and should be designed to support both ecological and social sustainability.
Can HPMAs exist alongside a viable fishing industry?
Yes – HPMAs can support a sustainable fishing industry. Where there are designated ocean recovery zones, fish stocks will increase with spillover effects in neighbouring areas. The example of French fishermen working towards additional HPMAs after experiencing the benefits of no-take zones shows that this approach can bring significant benefits to industry itself.
Where else has HPMAs?
HPMAs are a key tool to enable the protection and recovery of marine ecosystems. Globally, the number and coverage of HPMAs are increasing. TheEU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets a target of ‘strict protection’ of 10% of the EU’s seas by 2030.
Various HPMAs can be found worldwide, and research demonstrates their benefits on marine life within and outside their boundaries. The MPA guide helpfully providesa map of 226 MPAs, 126 of which are under high levels of protection.
No-one knows more than the communities living around Scotland’s vast coastline how important and stunning our seas are. The health of the ocean, and particularly the seabed, is at the heart of sustaining communities reliant on wildlife tourism, fishing and aquaculture.
The ocean regulates half the oxygen we breathe. Our lives literally depend on it. It has absorbed more than 90 per cent of all the excess heat produced by society in recent decades. Despite this, the seabed has unfortunately been out of sight out of mind for most.
Globally, we’re in the midst of an ocean emergency. Areas of the ocean are becoming more acidic meaning shell-forming creatures struggle to create their shelters, other areas are becoming deoxygenated dead zones, and ocean nature is declining due to overfishing, ocean warming, inappropriate development, and a soup of plastic and invisible poisonous chemicals.
Despite this, all governments of the UK spectacularly failed to ensure our seas were in good environmental status by 2020, failing 11 of 15 targets including halting the loss of nature at sea.
Nine years after the first assessment required of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Government scientists and advisers again highlighted that the condition of most of Scotland’s seabed was of great concern. Some living seabed habitats have declined by over 90 per cent in the space of only a few years.
The Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and Scottish Greens made welcome commitments to complete planned marine conservation measures, modernise inshore fisheries management more widely and commit to designating at least ten per cent of Scotland’s seas as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs).
Such areas have proven successful worldwide. They provide oases for vulnerable and depleted marine life to recover. Allowing fish, shellfish and other species to flourish in a fully protected area also benefits the many people and activities which rely upon healthy seas. The benefits from these areas overflow into surrounding waters, increasing the abundance and resilience of sea life. This overflow can benefit nearby low-impact fishing, such as angling, creeling and hand-diving, and other fishing beyond.
Protected areas also provide excellent places for people to simply celebrate their local blue space, to enjoy it and to learn about the role and value of ocean ecosystems. An excellent example of this is the pioneering Lamlash Bay Community Marine Conservation Area. Rolling out more such areas requires a holistic and integrated approach. The proposed HPMAs would need to protect a mix of inshore and offshore waters so that the benefits and trade-offs are spread around Scotland’s coasts.
The ocean emergency is real. Our seabed habitats are under threat, and populations of seabirds continue to decline. Highly protecting a modest ten per cent of the seabed from extractive, construction, and depositional activities, could help provide multiple wider benefits if managed well, and bring all communities of place and interest onboard.
HPMAs provide core ocean recovery zones with multiple benefits; they increase biodiversity, including of living reefs, lobsters and scallops, and increase the storage of carbon in living animals and seaweeds, and the seabed itself (blue carbon). They also improve protection of the coastline from storm damage and provide ocean beacons for research and enjoyment. HPMAs would create vibrant blue spaces for kayakers, wild swimmers, beach walkers, rockpoolers, divers, wildlife spotters and others to enjoy.
It is crucial that HPMAs are placed strategically to maximise community benefits. This includes having surrounding buffer zones for low-impact fishing, into which fish and shellfish can overspill, and identifying and protecting zones for appropriate levels of fishing in the wider seas.
Everyone wants to see healthy seas supporting abundant wildlife and thriving coastal communities. Done well, HPMAs can provide a win-win for all with a stake in the health of the ocean.
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