The Scottish Statutory Instrument with the proposed closures comes into effect on 12 February 2022 and the closure begins on 14 February 2022. • The Scottish Government will continue to actively monitor this closure and to engage with stakeholders on its relevance and effectiveness. • During the closure we will increase monitoring of activity and catches to assess in particular whether, and where cod are being caught outside the closure area, and whether they were mature enough to spawn. • We intend to hold a meeting with stakeholders at the end of the 2022 closure to reflect on the effectiveness of the revised closure area.