Chapter 5: Productive

The National North Sea cod avoidance plan (NCAP) was introduced in 2020. The plan seeks to address two key issues: 1) to support recovery of North Sea cod (now assessed as part of the wider Northern Shelf cod stock) and, 2) to support the fishing industry to manage their quota. This plan mainly focuses on spatial measures to avoid catching an abundance of cod.

A number of seasonal closures became statutory as part of NCAP, and have been retained since. Further seasonal closures and amendments to existing closures were agreed for 2026 and are operational from 1 January 2026. Further information on NCAP, including the seasonal closures and other measures, can be found on the Scottish Government NCAP webpages: UK national North Sea cod avoidance plan - gov.scot.

Real Times Closures (RTCs) and Real Time Reporting (RTR) in particular will help manage quota issues for the fleet.

This plan mainly focuses on spatial measures to avoid catching an abundance of cod. Whilst spatial measures are difficult to quantify, our previous experience of using spatial measures such as RTCs (particularly during the Cod Recovery Plan) demonstrates that such measures can have an observable effect on cod mortality and biomass. 

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.).

Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups (RIFGs) are bodies that aim to improve the management of Scotland's inshore fisheries (out to twelve nautical miles) and to give commercial inshore fishermen a strong voice in wider marine management developments. The West Coast and North & East Coast RIFGs were originally established in April 2016, replacing the four IFGs that formerly covered the Scottish mainland coast. In 2020, the scope of RIFGs was extended to the 12NM limit as part of the Future Fisheries Management (FFM) policy.

In 2025, the network was restructured to strengthen regional representation. A new North & North West RIFG now covers the area from Ardnamurchan Point northwards around the west coast and up to Inverness, including the Inner Hebrides north of Ardnamurchan Point. The East Coast RIFG boundary was revised and now starts at Inverness and runs clockwise down the east coast to the English border, creating a clearer separation from the new North & North West region. The current RIFG network comprises: North & North West Coast, East Coast, South West Coast, Outer Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland (operating alongside the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation).

The Kingfisher Information Service - Offshore Renewable & Cable Awareness project (KIS-ORCA) is a joint initiative between the European Subsea Cables Association (ESCA), Renewable UK and the Kingfisher Information Service of Seafish. KIS-ORCA commenced on 01 January 2012 and supersedes the successful KIS-CA project. KIS-ORCA now includes subsea cables (power and telecommunications) surrounding the UK and, for the first time, UK offshore renewable energy structures, in the form of constructed offshore wind farms.

This layer shows routes of seabed cables for telecommunications and is as zoom restricted. See http://www.kis-orca.eu/ for further details.