The Committee is scrutinising the Offshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2025, which restricts the use of specified fishing gear in 19 protected areas.
This Order would introduce site specific fisheries management measures in 10 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and nine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) located in the Scottish offshore region, covering waters between 12 and 200 nautical miles.
The new rules mean that the use of specified fishing gear would be restricted across the whole of five protected areas and would be restricted to defined zones in the remaining 14.
The Anton Dohrn SAC, Braemar Pockmarks SAC, Darwin Mounds SAC, Scanner Pockmark SAC and West of Scotland MPA are among the areas that would be impacted. The measures have been proposed based on the sensitivities and distribution of protected features, and associated conservation objectives.
The Committee is running a call for views in order to scrutinise the Scottish Government’s proposals to prohibit certain fishing methods in marine protected areas and special areas of conservation.
The call for views closes on Friday 12 September 2025.