Holyrood ministers are being urged to deliver “proper protection” for Scotland’s marine protected areas (MPAs) – with campaigners insisting “destructive” fishing practices have no place in such zones. Marine conservation groups spoke out after the Scottish Government implemented new fisheries management measures in 20 offshore MPAs in

Ministers are being urged to end a “pointless” 20-year-old policy of seasonal closures of fishing waters in the Clyde, amid claims that stocks of cod have failed to recover over the past two decades. Seasonal closures have been imposed every year since 2001, prohibiting fishing in spawning grounds at a key time in their breeding season. The closure,

The Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT)  has called on the Scottish Government to stop the fishing of wrasse in marine protected areas. SIFT has written to Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon urging her to ensure the law is being followed.

Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs & Islands Committee recently completed a follow-up inquiry into the implementation of the Rural Economy & Connectivity Committee session 5 report recommendations for salmon farming in Scotland. 

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Plans to ban fishing in one tenth of Scottish waters “will not be progressed”, were confirmed by the SNP’s Net Zero Secretary, Mairi McAllan, this week. Ms McAllan MSP said that the previously proposed highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) will not be taken forward.

Guidelines for environmentally responsible seaweed cultivation have just been published. These guidelines have been developed to help UK seaweed businesses understand the potential environmental impacts of both seaweed aquaculture and wild seaweed harvesting, and to help them incorporate this knowledge into their projects before commencing development.

SIFT recently commissioned a report on Facilitating development of the seaweed cultivation sector in Scotland. The report assesses the role of cooperatives and alternative models for collaboration in meeting key commercial challenges in the sector. In particular, it considers how cooperatives specifically designed to assist small scale seaweed farmers

Evidence is growing of the central role that Scotland’s marine area plays in our national carbon accounts.

This morning Scottish Ministers set out options for the future of all Scotland’s fisheries in their Scottish Sea Fisheries National Discussion Paper, which will form the basis for an open consultation through to 7th June 2019.