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Today, the first ever Marine Conservation Order (MCO) was approved by the Scottish Parliament. The MCO – approved via a short-notice emergency procedure initiated by Marine Scotland, excludes all forms of fishing – and indeed any activity that could damage the seabed – in three areas near to the southern shores of the Isle of Arran. As many will know, North Lamlash Bay is the site of Scotland’s first and only No Take Zone and so this recent event in the Clyde once again marks a significant moment in the long and evolving story of Scotland’s seas.

Straight up, it is important to say that it is unfortunate that the emergency MCO was needed in the first place. A temporary, voluntary closure to mobile, (more…)

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Caryophylilia smithii – how does this feature relate to protection of MPAs?

In August, Glasgow hosted the International Marine Conservation Congress. This was a big deal. Over an intense week, the world’s most creative and motivated minds in marine science gathered together to discuss solutions to the urgent problems facing our shared ocean. It was also – in domestic terms – very timely. Here in Scotland, we have just put in place 30 new Marine Protected Areas; countries all across the globe are beginning to develop MPAs. The eyes of the world’s marine conservation and planning community were on Scotland’s contribution to the debate. So what did they think? The opinion-soup of social media is an imperfect tool for monitoring such things, but well… so are feedback forms, so here’s (more…)

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This month, the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Climate Change & Environment (RACCE) Committee took the welcome step of exercising its role of post-legislative scrutiny – and lent its analytical lens to the important issue of Marine Protected Area project and its continued implementation. For anyone not following the detail of what has been a complex three year process, please read this and this. After literally years of campaigning that has slowly encouraged legislative change, we now actually have new MPAs. 30 of them. In the water. Backed up by Scots and UK law. The big question that people now have is:

• are they enough? (given that in ecological terms, Scotland’s seas need a serious dose of TLC – for more ref, read Our Precious Sea Areas need to rest)
• what difference will they make?

Gratefully these were some of the questions that were being grappled with by the Scottish Parliament’s RACCE Committee in two separate sessions on the 13th August and 20th August. The first of the evidence sessions included a host of eminent marine scientists specialising in benthic, seabird and sea mammal conservation as well as representatives of Scottish fishermen, Scottish renewables companies and (more…)

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Fig 1 showing MPA boundary and target fisheries management areas

The Wester Ross MPA was put forward as a 3rd party community proposal and is of clear cultural and socio-economic importance to the proponents. This area has historically boasted a rich and diverse marine ecosystem and, while many key species and habitats are still found within the MPA, local residents and marine users have witnessed first-hand the impacts caused by damaging activities and a decline in biodiversity.

Target areas of management, developed as (more…)

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This case study illustrates why the emerging management for Scotland’s new nature conservation MPAs looks likely to fall short of delivering adequate protection of the Small Isles MPA.

Fig 1: showing MPA boundary and target fisheries management areas

LINK members fully support the Small Isles possible MPA, recently designated for the conservation of a number of features[1], all of which are key components in the marine ecosystem of western Scotland. Many of these features have declined as a result of impacts from activities such as fishing, and their populations are of concern or are in critical condition. (more…)

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Scotland’s environmental charities have welcomed today’s decision by the Scottish Government to more than double the size of an emerging network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). In a bold move, Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead gave the go-ahead for 30 new MPAs to protect a further 12% of Scotland’s seas, as well as paving the way for urgent new measures to protect struggling populations of seabirds, whales and dolphins.

Members of Scottish Environment LINK’s marine taskforce have campaigned for stronger protection of Scotland’s sealife for over a decade and last year over 14,000 people backed proposals for new MPAs (more…)

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In August 2013, the Scottish Government put forward proposals for a network of Marine Protected Areas via public consultation. We campaigned long and hard for the full range of MPAs to stay on the table prior to the consultation. In the three month consultation that followed, over 10,000 people responded in favour of Scottish MPAs, many via this website in support of a message of marine recovery. You can read the text of our campaign (more…)

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This summer, the Scottish Government will set up as many as 33 new nature conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Scotland’s seas. This is a watershed moment for our seas, which have been damaged by decades of unsustainable use. Over 10,000 people voiced their support for MPAs during the Scottish consultation in 2013. The politicians are now deciding what MPAs to designate – so this is a crucial time to remember why we need MPAs.

For the months of June and July we will be highlighting each of the proposed MPAs with a few vital facts about each MPA – an online summer study in marine conservation! If you support MPAs, share this around via Facebook and Twitter. (more…)

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