6 Nautical Miles (6M) limit - Scottish Inshore Waters - Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984

What is it: 

This is the inshore fishing boundary - 6 miles from baselines - and is defined in the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984. Inshore waters, part of Territorial Waters (12 mile limit), form part of Scotland as defined in the Scotland Act 1998. 

While competence for sea fisheries rests at EU level, the UK has exclusive rights to fish within 6 miles. Devolution means that Scottish Ministers are responsible for the regulation of sea fishing within the Scottish zone of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

Updated figures on coastline length etc. (as found in Scotland’s Marine Atlas) can be accessed in the ‘Data Sources’ tab at the bottom of the page.

See the legend tab on MS Maps NMPi layers for the various components of the limit; part of the limit is the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundary..

Links to Scotland's Marine Atlas: 
Chapter 1: Introduction
Data originators: 
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO)
This information page is part of the theme: 
Limits and Boundaries
Various maritime limits around Scotland © Marine Scotland
More Information: 

If there are differences between the data layer on NMPi and the base layers (sometimes terrestrial maps show some offshore boundaries), the UKHO data based layer is correct.

This page was last modified on : 
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 09:10

Links and Resources

Map Type Click title for metadata and licence informationsort descending Date of data View Map
Map Layers (NMPi) 6 Nautical Miles (6M) limit - Inshore waters adjacent to Scotland - Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 2011-03-03 Access this map on NMPi
Type Link Titlesort descending External Link
Statistics Facts and figures about Scotland's sea area (coastline length, sea area in sq kms)
Web link UKHO INSPIRE portal and MEDIN Bathymetry Data Archive Centre www.gov.uk
Data Portals UKHO INSPIRE portal and MEDIN Bathymetry Data Archive Centre (Geospatial viewer and download) data.admiralty.co.uk
Type Title External link
Legislation Scotland Act 1998 www.legislation.gov.uk
Legislation Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 www.legislation.gov.uk
Legislation Territorial Sea Act 1987 www.legislation.gov.uk
Legislation Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999 www.legislation.gov.uk
Legislation UK Hydrographic Office - Law of the Sea www.gov.uk
Legislation United Nations - Oceans and Law of the Sea www.un.org
Web link Marine Scotland - Inshore Fisheries www.gov.scot