Marine Scotland Blog
Faroe fisheries agreement delivers for Scotland’s fishing industry for 2025
The UK-Faroe agreement sets out quota exchanges which will allow UK vessels to fish key species in Faroese waters. This includes quotas for cod, haddock, and saithe at similar levels to the 2024 agreement in exchange for stocks including Greenland halibut, North Sea haddock and Western blue ling.
This is the final in a suite of negotiations which will provide over £600 million of fishing opportunities to Scottish fishers in 2025.
The UK-Faroe Agreed Record for 2025 will be published on the Scottish Government website
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Monitoring Microscopic Marine Life – Bridging Traditional and Modern Identification Methods
In the first of a new series of blogs Professor Mark Inall, Chief Scientific Adviser Marine to the Scottish Government, looks at the challenges and opportunities of new ways to study the smallest of marine life.
Plankton – microscopic plants and animals that live in the water – form the base of the marine food web, supporting all marine life. They are a vital food source for shellfish and fish larvae, including commercially important species that contribute to Scotland’s Blue Economy. The Marine Directorate runs the Scottish Coastal Observatory (SCObs), an environmental monitoring programme that has tracked plankton in Scottish waters for over 25 years.Understanding Plankton Changes and Their Impact
Assessments of the marine environment in Northeast Atlantic waters have revealed concerning changes in the plankton community over the last six decades. In 2023, the plankton community in marine waters was assessed as being in not good status.
Some plankton groups can form harmful algal blooms (HABs) which can negatively affect the aquaculture industry and the marine environment. The aquaculture industry is seeking real-time early warning mechanisms to help develop management actions to reduce impacts from these blooms.
Combining Traditional and Modern Techniques
Standard plankton monitoring relies on expert taxonomic analysts who identify, classify and count the plankton in samples from long-term monitoring programmes. These methods allow scientist to compare data over long time periods and across different research institutes worldwide.
New technologies, such as automated imaging systems and molecular methods, offer the potential to improve our understanding of the plankton community. Automated imaging machines can sample and identify selected plankton while molecular techniques analyse DNA or RNA to detect the species present in a sample. These new methods are not yet integrated into routine monitoring programmes in Scottish waters.
A recent study by Holland et al. 2025 highlighted the need to establish clear pathways for validating these new technologies. For them to be effective, traditional taxonomic skills must be maintained and developed. However, there is currently a global shortage of scientists with these specialist skills, which raises concerns about future monitoring capacity.
Collaboration for Effective Innovation
Successfully integrating new technologies requires collaboration between policymakers, scientists and industry. These innovations often need expertise in engineering, advanced computing, and molecular analysis to ensure their effectiveness in real world monitoring.
One example is the trial of the Imaging Flow Cytobot (IFCB) in Shetland. This initiative involves government, academia, industry and other stakeholders working together to test IFCB technology. The goal is to provide an early warning of HABs at a Scottish Seafood site at Cole Deep and the Scottish Coastal Observatory monitoring site at Scalloway.
Moving Forward: Innovation with Expertise
As new monitoring technologies emerge, it is crucial to retain human expertise until automated systems are fully developed. True innovation intelligently builds on the wisdom of the past. Training semi-automated identification systems requires expert application of hard-learnt human skill. By merging time-tested techniques with cutting-edge technologies, we can develop solutions that are highly effective in tackling today’s ever mounting challenges in the face of global climate change. A salutary lesson here is to maintain human expertise until automated systems are fully trained, or risk falling down the gap: Mind the Gap, indeed!
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Seventh Annual ScotMER Symposium announced
Registration is now open for the 7th Scottish Marine Energy Research (ScotMER) Symposium, running from 25 to 28 February.
This year’s Symposium is again free to attend and will take place online over four days. We’re also pleased to announce that you can join us in-person or online at our hybrid day on Wednesday 26 February at the Stirling Court Hotel, Stirling!
We’re delighted to be welcoming the Minister for Climate Action, Dr Alasdair Allan, to open the symposium on 25 February. The event showcases the latest ground-breaking research funded by the Scottish Government and our collaborators to improve the evidence base around how offshore renewable energy developments may affect our natural environment and other users of the sea.
The event also includes updates on projects from the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP), ECOWind, Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) Programme and other international research programmes. The four day event will present evidence on topics such as seabirds, marine mammals, fish and socioeconomics.
Last year’s event attracted over 1000 registered attendees from 30 different countries. You can catch up on talks from the 5th and 6th Symposium on the Marine Directorate YouTube.
Take a look at what’s on at the upcoming ScotMER Symposium and book your free place now!
About ScotMER
ScotMER is a Scottish Government initiative that identifies and addresses key evidence needs to help inform licensing, consenting and planning decisions concerning offshore renewable developments.
The Scottish Government has committed to investing up to £3.2 million per year until 2026/27 into research that will be delivered through the ScotMER programme, improving the scientific evidence base that is key to delivering ScotWind. ScotMER supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to Net Zero by 2045 and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy.
Receptor Groups
The ScotMER programme has seven receptor groups shown in the image below. Members consist of a range of external and internal stakeholders from across government (marine science, planning and licensing), statutory nature conservation bodies (e.g. NatureScot), academia, industry, as well as environmental charities.
Receptor groups image
Receptor groups identify and prioritise key evidence gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of marine renewables. These gaps are captured on evidence maps available on the Scottish Government website.
Research
The ScotMER programme takes forward high priority research projects based on the evidence gaps identified by the receptor groups.
In the last year ScotMER has published eight research reports on the Scottish Government website. The programme currently has a range of active and upcoming research projects investigating issues across the ecosystem and socioeconomics.
Communication
The ScotMER programme communicates project outputs to key decision makers across Scottish Government, as well as external stakeholders such as NatureScot, industry (developers and fishing), the academic community, and environmental charities.
ScotMER presents at a range of conferences and collaborates with stakeholders across Scotland, the UK and internationally. This coordinated approach enables the exploration of joint funding opportunities, cooperation across national boundaries and the development of new evidence to inform future decision-making.
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Bilateral agreement with Norway brings additional fishing opportunities
The agreement includes reciprocal access for demersal stocks such as haddock, cod and plaice, which will allow Scottish fishers to catch up to 30,000 tonnes of their existing North Sea quotas in Norwegian waters. Access has also been agreed for North Sea herring in UK waters, and Atlanto-Scandian herring in Norwegian waters, up to a cap of 20,000 tonnes. Exchanges of quotas have also been agreed for 2025.
The arrangements for 2025 mirror those from last year, where the whitefish agreement of 30,000 tonnes gave over £17m worth of access opportunities to UK vessels in Norwegian waters.
Discussions with the Faroe Islands on further exchanges of opportunities are ongoing.
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Agreement on 2025 fish opportunities reached between UK and EU
The UK-EU bilateral negotiations to set Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for over 80 jointly managed stocks, including those in the North Sea and West of Scotland, have now concluded with an agreement.
The value of the UK-EU bilateral agreement to Scotland is estimated to be more than £219 million, representing an increase of £25 million compared to 2024.
The number of TACs for key stocks within Scottish sea basins, which were set at or below Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) and/or headline advice, has remained the same as in 2024.
TACs have been set at sustainable levels, taking into account scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), socioeconomic factors and, where appropriate, TAC constraints to mitigate large increases and decreases in the scientific advice, which could negatively impact the industry and markets.
Among the stocks covered by this agreement are North Sea and West of Scotland nephrops, monkfish and hake as well as Rockall haddock and cod, and West of Scotland whiting, cod, and haddock, which are of key importance to the Scottish industry.
The parties concluded these negotiations in a positive spirit, and a number of commitments were made ahead of 2025, which they will continue to progress through the UK-EU Specialised Committee on Fisheries.
The UK-EU bilateral written record can be viewed here. Allocations of quotas to individual producer organisations and vessels will be made in the new year.
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Agreement on 2025 fishing opportunities reached between UK, EU and Norway
The UK-EU-Norway trilateral negotiations to set Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for six shared North Sea stocks have now concluded.
The agreement sees TACs for all six of the jointly managed stocks set at levels consistent with the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach. The resulting quotas are worth an estimated value of more than £200 million to Scotland. Parties also discussed a number of areas of joint working, which will continue with further close cooperation during 2025.
The catch limit for Northern Shelf cod has been agreed at a level reflecting the headline advice for the southern substock, and MSY scenarios for the two northern substocks. This will reduce fishing pressure. It is forecast to result in increases in the spawning stock biomass of all three substocks, whilst not disproportionately impacting those vessels fishing the relatively healthy northern substocks.
2025 TACs for the stocks have been agreed as follows. Percentage change from 2024 is shown in brackets:
- North Sea cod: 19,910 tonnes (-20.04%)
- North Sea haddock: 95,862 tonnes (-5.48%)
- North Sea whiting: 111,861 tonnes (+45.85%)
- North Sea saithe: 71,638 tonnes (+7.12%)
- North Sea plaice: 155,755 tonnes (+14.18%)
- North Sea herring (A fleet): 388,542 tonnes (-23.86%)
Commitments were made in the agreed record to progress work in 2025 on a number of areas of joint working, including the development of a long term management strategy for saithe, management of cod and herring, and monitoring, control and surveillance.
Additional bilateral consultations with coastal state partners are ongoing.
Allocations of quotas to individual producer organisations and vessels will be made in the new year.
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