Facts and figures about Scotland's sea area (coastline length, sea area in sq kms)
Facts and figures about Scotland’s seas
Table 1 - Coastline length
|
At LW mark * |
At HW mark * |
|
18,002 kms |
18,672 kms |
Source: * Scottish Government - created from OS Boundary Line 2007 and OS Mastermap: coastline length at minimum scale 1:10,000.
Table 2 - Islands
|
Inhabited** |
Uninhabited |
|
118 |
in excess of 800 |
Source: **General Register Office for Scotland based on 2010 postcode data.
Table 3 - Scottish sea areas
|
|
Description |
Area (kms2) (approx.) |
|
1 |
HW mark to territorial sea baseline (Internal Waters)*** |
34,920 |
|
2 |
Territorial sea baseline to 3 n miles (Water Framework Directive limit) *** |
13,790 |
|
3 |
Area of sea within WFD limit (internal waters & territorial waters) (1 + 2) |
48,710 |
|
4 |
Territorial sea baseline to 12 n miles (Territorial Waters)*** |
55,484 |
|
5 |
HW mark to Territorial Sea limit (12 n miles) = Territorial Waters (1+4) |
90,404 |
|
6 |
Territorial sea outside WFD (5 – 3) |
41,694 |
|
7 |
3 n mile to EEZ limit (EEZ outside WFD) (9-3) |
413,553 |
|
8 |
12 n mile limit to EEZ limit *** (9-5) |
371,859 |
|
9 |
Total sea area inside EEZ limit (EEZ waters) |
462,263 |
Source: *** High water mark from OS Boundary Line 2013. Straight baselines, closing bays and 12nm limits courtesy of UKHO, accurate as of April 2014. Internal waters estimated by joining straight baselines and closing bays to low water mark which as derived from OS Boundary Line 2007, except for area around Shetland, Orkney and Stornoway, which was derived from OS MasterMap. All area calculations on Albers Equal Area Conic projection using transformation EPSG 1311 (WGS84 to ED50).
Table 4 - UK sea area
|
Description |
Area (km2) |
Approx. % |
|
Total UK sea area to EEZ limit |
743,965 |
100% |
|
Scottish seas |
462,263 |
62% |
|
English seas |
229,966 |
31% |
|
Welsh seas |
30,754 |
4% |
|
Northern Ireland seas |
6,717 |
1% |
|
Guernsey seas |
7,342 |
1% |
|
Jersey seas |
2,965 |
½ % |
|
Isle of Man seas |
3,957 |
½ % |
|
Scotland land area (to mean low water) |
80,060 |
|
|
Sea area : land area ratio |
5.85 : 1 |
|
Table 5 – Scottish Marine Regions
|
Region |
Area (km2) |
Distance along MHWS (km)* |
|
Solway |
3,724 |
774 |
|
Clyde |
4,279 |
1,251 |
|
Argyll |
12,045 |
2,907 |
|
Outer Hebrides |
20,849 |
3,900 |
|
West Highlands |
10,421 |
3,642 |
|
North Coast |
2,443 |
542 |
|
Orkney Islands |
9,256 |
1,224 |
|
Shetland Isles |
12,310 |
2,373 |
|
Moray Firth |
5,876 |
981 |
|
North East |
3,153 |
306 |
|
Forth and Tay |
4,487 |
772 |
|
(Rockall)** |
1,561 |
|
|
Total |
90,404 |
18,672 |
*This includes skerries, islets etc
**Rockall has 12nm limit but is not included within SMRs
Area and distances calculated on Europe Albers Equal Area Conic projection (ESRI:102013) using transformations EPSG:1311 (Rockall) and EPSG:1315 (SMRs), and rounded to zero decimal places.
Notes
- The baseline (from which the limits of the Territorial Sea are measured) will move depending on the latest surveys of the low water (LW) mark. LW is generally the datum for baselines except where straight baselines (established in legislation) or bay closing lines are used. The areas defined as “bays” vary over time due to improvements in surveys and GIS software.
- The new Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), declared in March 2014, established a new boundary that generally follows the existing continental shelf limits (except in the area beyond 200 miles). This gives a slightly reduced sea area compared with the area within the previous fishery limits.
- The area of sea will vary depending on the resolution of the coastline used in calculations. A higher resolution coastline introduces more variations – indents or extrusions - which are smoothed out when using a more generalized coast line. When measuring Scotland’s sea area, a higher resolution coastline introduces more small islands which has the effect of increasing coastline length but reducing the sea area.
This information can be downloaded as a word document from the link below.