As needed

Demonstration and Research Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated by Scottish Ministers under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Sites can be established for the purpose of demonstrating, or carrying out research on sustainable methods of marine management or exploitation in Scottish territorial waters. Their application is not restricted to nature conservation. Proposals will be developed and assessed according to a set of specific guidelines which will examine the scientific case for a MPA, the level of support and the reasons why a MPA is the most appropriate mechanism to use. This layer displays the locations of these DR MPAs.

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 or the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. They have to be managed in a way that furthers the conservation objectives. The EU Habitats Directive requires Special Areas of Conservation (and Special Protection Areas) to be managed in a way that prevents deterioration of the qualifying features.  This layer contains proposed boundaries and measures which are subject to Marine Conservation Orders (MCOs), the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 or the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and is subject to change.

This dataset was created by the Scottish Government and represents passenger and vehicle ferry services in Scotland. These are the routes for the start and end terminals in the Scottish Ferry Ports dataset. It was initially created for use within the development of the Scottish Government's Urban Rural Classification. Both subsidised and private routes are included, as well as the seasonality of the route and whether it can take vehicle or foot passengers only. Ferry routes and attributes are based upon route information obtained from operator websites (e.g. Caledonian MacBrayne, NorthLink Ferries, etc.).

This  layer combines video clips and analysis from seabed surveys carried out by Marine Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and SEPA as part of the Scottish MPA Programme.

Seabed survey videos have been clipped and sample videos were uploaded to YouTube. The videos and survey results data have been combined into a point GIS layer depicting the location of the seabed surveys. The attribute information provides access to the results from the survey and the relevant video clips.