Photo by Thimo van Leeuwen

Scottish Ministers have been both non-compliant with, and ineffective in implementing, their legal duties to protect and restore the seafloor, according to a new report published on 23 June by Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS), the independent body that monitors environmental law in Scotland. The findings landed on the same day campaigners handed ministers a 16,500-signature petition demanding faster action on inshore protections, underlining mounting pressure on the Scottish Government from two directions at once.

Where the failures lie

The Marine Strategy Regulations 2010 place a legal duty on Scottish Ministers to achieve “Good Environmental Status” (GES) for the marine environment, including for seafloor integrity, one of 11 descriptors used to assess marine health. ESS’s report, Protecting Scotland’s seafloor, identifies systemic failings across planning, monitoring and implementation, and concludes these failings contributed to the UK as a whole missing its 2020 target to achieve GES for seafloor habitats.

On monitoring, ESS found Scottish Ministers are non-compliant with environmental law, since current monitoring programmes lack sufficient data to assess seafloor status across Scotland’s marine regions, despite this being a statutory requirement. On planning, the report concludes that fundamental steps have not been taken to develop an effective Programme of Measures, the document essential to demonstrating how GES will actually be achieved. On implementation, the report points to fragmented responsibilities, weak accountability, delays putting measures into practice, and poor integration of marine objectives across policy areas.

What ESS is calling for

ESS has asked the Scottish Government to agree a plan of remedial action within six months, under powers granted to it by Section 20 of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021. Its recommendations include carrying out a proper assessment of whether the 2025 Programme of Measures will actually deliver seafloor integrity targets, closing the data gaps that currently prevent robust monitoring, and explaining how coordination will improve both across Scottish Government policy areas and with other UK administrations delivering the UK Marine Strategy. ESS has said it will use the agreed plan to track progress, and has warned it will consider enforcement action if ministers fail to act.

Mark Roberts, Chief Executive of ESS, said: “Healthy seas matter to everyone. They provide food, regulate the climate, support jobs and protect the coastline. However, our analysis reveals that Scottish Ministers are failing in their legal duties to safeguard these benefits.” He added: “While plans and measures are in place, there is little evidence to show how these actions will achieve the stated environmental targets… Our report must serve as a wake-up call for Scottish Ministers: without swift, decisive action, achieving GES for seafloor integrity will remain out of reach and the legal duties of Scottish Ministers will remain unmet.”

A coalition losing patience

The report’s publication coincided with a demonstration at Holyrood and the handover of a petition to Agriculture and Marine Minister Jim Fairlie, organised by the Our Seas coalition, a grouping of more than 160 organisations. The petition calls for at least 30% of Scotland’s inshore waters to be protected from dredging and bottom trawling within the new government’s first 100 days. Phil Taylor, director of Open Seas, said: “Over the past few decades we’ve seen wildlife and habitats around our coasts go into decline… We need ministers to act now, and introduce new protections, based in evidence, to protect marine ecosystems and safeguard the futures of the coastal communities that rely on them.”

Bally Philp, national co-ordinator of the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation, said inshore fish populations and the fleet dependent on them had declined dramatically since protections were reduced in the mid-1980s, arguing that restricting “high impact, low employment, mobile gear” from inshore waters “is a clear win-win for Scotland’s seas and Scotland’s fishing industry.” Joe Richards, Scotland project manager at the Blue Marine Foundation, said most of Scotland’s coastal marine protected areas, designated more than a decade ago, “still lack meaningful management or protection from damaging activities,” adding: “Scotland’s seas do not need more warm words or broken promises.”

The government’s response

Responding to the petition, Marine Minister Jim Fairlie said: “Scottish Ministers take the protection and restoration of the marine environment seriously and I am happy to meet with representatives to receive their petition and hear their concerns. I appreciate that there will be differing views about how best to manage the incredible natural resources we have and I and my colleagues across Government will work with all partners to ensure that we are responsible custodians of our seas.”