SIFT strongly supports coherent marine spatial planning, has actively engaged with the Scottish Government’s consultation process on National Marine Planning and has been an active participant in the much delayed process of introducing Regional Marine Plans to Scottish coastal waters.
(Photo credit: Rosie Landon)
National marine planning
Scotland’s first National Marine Plan (NMP) was published in 2015 and aimed to set out a planning framework for the sustainable development of Scotland’s seas. The second plan (NMP2) is currently under development. SIFT believes that the Scottish Government must include within NMP2:
- Specific spatial management measures – which set out where and when activities can take place. This will reduce conflict between Scotland’s marine users and assist the conservation and preservation of the marine ecosystem.
- The integration of fisheries management measures into marine planning.
- Transparent, inclusive and statutory stakeholder engagement mechanisms.
- Stronger commitments to ensure actions are implemented.
SIFT’s response to the 2025 NMP2 Planning Position Statement Consultation can be found in the resources section of this page. In August 2025, NMP2 was delayed until after the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary election. SIFT has urged the Scottish Government to restart the NMP2 process at its earliest opportunity.
(Photo credit: Rosie Landon)
Regional marine planning
Scotland’s marine regions were established under the Scottish Marine Regions Order 2015. Under the NMP, Regional Marine Plans (RMPs) were required to provide a planning framework for each region. However, of these regions only Orkney and Shetland have published their plans to date. SIFT staff have played an active role in promoting the development of a RMP for the Clyde region, despite extensive delays incurred by the Scottish Government.
SIFT believes that fisheries management should be an integral component of regional marine planning, and is concerned that it is currently only being ‘taken forward through other dedicated processes’. So SIFT is calling for fisheries management measures to be included in RMPs, in order to ensure that the sustainable exploitation of inshore fish stocks is part of a coherent eco-system based approach to wider marine management.
