Scotland’s marine environment contains a wealth of valuable habitats that form the foundations of a diverse and unique range of marine life.
Our waters are home to ancient maerl beds, shoals of mackerel, visiting pods of killer whales and vast colonies of puffins, guillemots and kittiwakes, all of which contribute to a healthy marine ecosystem. The benefits of a healthy marine ecosystem on human society are evident, most notably through marine industries, education and research, and recreation.
Despite the huge range of benefits Scotland’s marine environment provides, its current state of health is below acceptable levels. Human activities at sea (e.g. fishing, aquaculture and coastal development) and on land (e.g. agriculture, pollution and littering) have caused physical and chemical damage to some of Scotland’s most valuable habitats. Reductions in biodiversity, altered hydrological regimes and increased noise pollution are some of the most damaging effects of human activity, all of which threaten the foundations of Scotland’s marine ecosystems.
Scotland’s Marine Protected Area network
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are sites at sea in which human activity is restricted to varying degrees. They are the cornerstones of international efforts to conserve marine biodiversity and their associated ecosystem services as well as cultural values and mitigating the effects of climate change.
In Scotland, it is the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) that provides power to Scottish Ministers to designate MPAs.
The majority of MPAs in Scotland are designated for Nature Conservation for vulnerable species and habitats, from the famous bottlenose dolphins of the Moray Firth to the world’s largest area of serpulid reef in Loch Creran. There are also MPAs designated for Demonstration and Research, Historic Importance and Other Area Based Measures which protect specific species such as sand eels.
The current network covers 37% of Scotland’s seas. While each site in Scotland’s MPA Network performs a specific role, The Trust would like to see a more joined-up, large-scale, national approach to marine conservation and enhancement where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
At present there are still significant gaps in management measures for our MPAs since their inception in 2014. For more information on Scotland’s MPA network and the Trusts position on future management you can read our Marine Protected Areas Policy. For a full list of our policies you can visit our Policies and Positions page.