Photo by Michael Grant

Scotland’s marine minister has confirmed that a consultation on new fishing restrictions across more than 160 inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and sensitive habitats will launch “in the coming weeks”, with the consultation period extended to 16 weeks to allow fishing communities more time to respond. Jim Fairlie MSP, minister for agriculture, marine and the islands, set out the government’s approach in a ViewPoint piece for Shetland News published on 13 August, following a summer tour that included meetings with the Shetland Fishermen’s Association and the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation.

A long-delayed measure

The consultation covers fisheries management for inshore MPAs and 11 Priority Marine Features (PMFs) most vulnerable to bottom-contacting mobile fishing gear, a package that NatureScot and the Scottish Government have been developing for close to a decade. It was originally due to run from November 2025 to March 2026, but was delayed until after May’s Scottish Parliament election, a decision the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust called “deeply disappointing” at the time, arguing the measures had “already faced more than a decade of delay”. A briefing prepared for the Western Isles council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, ahead of the original launch date noted that the vast majority of the 160-plus sites are on the west coast, with a large number in and around the Western Isles.

Fairlie framed the extended timetable as evidence the government has learned from its abandoned Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMA) policy, which collapsed in 2023 after what ministers described as “highly polarised” consultation responses. “Our seas are a shared resource, and protecting them properly means looking after fish stocks, habitats and the long-term future of the very industries that rely on healthy marine environments,” he wrote. “That’s why 37% of Scotland’s seas are now designated as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), with fisheries management measures already in place across a significant share of that network. Since October 2025, when new fisheries management measures came into force, 93.5% of our offshore MPA network has been closed to bottom trawling, and 13% of our inshore MPAs are now closed to nephrops trawling and scallop dredging.”

He acknowledged the impact on communities such as Shetland’s, adding: “These are meaningful steps, but I recognise they don’t come without real impact on communities like Shetland’s, where fishing is central to local life and the local economy… Given the scale and complexity of this work, covering more than 160 sites, we are extending the consultation period to 16 weeks. This extra time will help make sure the evidence we gather is robust, the proposals are clear, and fishing communities in Shetland and beyond have a fair and full opportunity to have their say.”

Fishing industry reserves judgement

The Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) responded on 17 August with a letter to Shetland News from executive officer Sheila Keith, welcoming assurances that Highly Protected Marine Areas would not be introduced “by the back door”, but declining to give detailed comment until the full consultation is published. “At this stage it is difficult to offer detailed comment on MPAs before we have had the chance to read the full consultation,” Keith wrote. She noted that early discussions on proposed measures for areas around Shetland suggest some would close important fishing grounds, despite well-established local protections already in place through the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation.

Keith raised a specific concern about how some proposed measures apply to mobile seabed features: “It was never the intention to close productive fishing grounds simply to protect sand, which is a highly mobile feature shaped constantly by tides and weather. It is changes of this nature that risk having the greatest impact on fishermen, particularly when the rationale does not align with practical experience or ecological reality.” She added that the SFA recognises “the legal requirement to introduce management measures, but they must not come at any cost to fishermen or undermine the viability of our fleet”, pointing to existing pressure on fishing grounds from aquaculture and cabling. “The proposals currently being discussed would certainly exacerbate that situation,” she said, adding that the association would comment further once it has seen the full consultation.

Conservation groups want faster action

Environmental organisations have taken a different view of the timeline. Blue Marine Foundation, which campaigns for stronger protection of Scotland’s seabed, described a related September 2025 decision to protect around 50,000 square kilometres of additional seabed in 20 offshore MPAs as “major progress” that nonetheless “requires more” action to follow. Scottish Environment LINK has tracked the delays to the inshore package closely, noting in 2024 that the Scottish Government had originally committed to legally adopting fisheries management measures by spring 2024 under the now-dissolved Bute House Agreement, only for the consultation to be pushed back repeatedly since. The Our Seas Coalition, a coalition of fishing and conservation groups campaigning for reform of inshore fisheries management, held a demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament in June 2026 in support of stronger protection.

What happens next

Fairlie said he would spend the coming weeks meeting organisations “concerned with the current status of the marine environment and the pace of action, to understand the view of all stakeholders”, alongside continued engagement with the fishing sector. As of 13 August, the consultation itself had not yet formally opened, with the Scottish Government yet to publish a link to the consultation page. Once launched, the 16-week window means responses are likely to be gathered well into the winter, with a government response expected sometime after that.