Conservation Areas - Common/Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) |
In response to local declines in common seal numbers, the Scottish Government introduced conservation orders under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 to provide additional protection on a precautionary basis for vulnerable local populations of common seals. In September 2004, the Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2004 to cover common and grey seals in the Moray Firth, and in March 2007, the Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2007 to cover common seals only in the Northern Isles and Firth of Tay. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 introduces provisions for existing orders to continue, and for new ones to be introduced administratively as Seal Conservation Areas. The repeal of the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 on 31st January 2011 means that the existing orders will cease if not replaced by Seal Conservation Areas. The Scottish Government intends therefore to continue these existing orders in the form of Seal Conservation Areas from 1 February 2010.
This layer shows areas of seal conservation established under the Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2007.
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Seal Management Areas |
On 31 January 2011, Part 6 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 came into force. Part 6 seeks to balance seal conservation with sustainable fisheries and aquaculture and its introduction means: It is an offence to kill or injure a seal except under licence or for welfare reasons, outlawing unregulated seal shooting that was permitted under previous legislation A number of seal conservation areas around Scotland will begin to be introduced, designed to protect vulnerable, declining common seal populations A new seal licensing system, providing a well regulated and monitored context for seal management in Scotland has been introduced. Seal Management Areas are: East Coast, Moray Firth, Orkney and North Coast, Shetland, South West Scotland, West Scotland, Western Isles.
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Wintering Water Birds Average (WeBS Count) |
Scotland's coast is of particular importance for waterbirds and there are a number of sites of international importance for the wintering populations of wildfowl, waders and geese that they support. Many species are long distance migrant visitors that breed in the high Arctic and winter on Scotland's coasts.
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Non native species - Sargassum muticum - Wireweed - August 2012 (restricted zoom) |
Sargassum muticum, (wireweed), is an invasive non-native brown alga originally from Japan but now found extensively in Europe and North America. It is a fast-growing species able to form dense stands where conditions suit and by virtue of its life-history traits, is ideally suited to spread rapidly once established in a new region. Fronds of the alga readily become detached and can then disperse via natural drift. Crucially, these fronds can remain reproductively active for several weeks enabling dispersal over a wide area. S. muticum was first recorded in the UK in 1973 but did not reach Scotland until 2004 when it was found in Loch Ryan. It has subsequently spread up the west coast of Scotland. This dataset was produced by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
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Loch Ryan - Recreation activities - November 2013 |
The purpose of this dataset is to provide mapping of the approximate distribution of recreation activities (sea angling, diving/sub-aqua, yachting/sailing, windsurfing and kite surfing) in Loch Ryan. Hand drawn maps were provided by the Solway Firth Partnership and then digitised by Marine Scotland using GIS. The datasets have been created in vector polygons and are available in shapefile format.
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Solway - Recreation activities - September 2011 |
The purpose of this dataset is to provide mapping of the distribution of Tourism and Recreation activites in the Solway Firth. This work was done under the auspices of the Scottish Coastal Forum - Mapping Data for the Local Coastal Partnerships. This data is not represented in any national datasets, and is local-level scale. Hand drawn maps were created by the Solway Firth Partnership with an interviewee, and then digitised by Marine Atlas Consultants Ltd using GIS. The datasets have been created in vector polygons and are available in ArcGIS (.shp), MapInfo (.tab) and Google Earth (.kml) format. The project will result in improved knowledge of recreational use for identifying conflicts in marine spatial planning. It will also be applicable to other Marine Scotland functions such as Marine Licensing which may utilise the data for considering possible resource conflicts and for Marine Conservation and Enforcement to consider possible risks or impacts in relation to marine protected site management.
This layer displays approximate areas used for recreation activities. These activities include diving, land sailing, yachting and wildfowling.
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Loch Ryan - Fish and shellfish - November 2013 |
The purpose of this dataset is to provide mapping of the distribution of migratory salmon & sea trout (specific streams where these species are found) and oyster spat (the area oyster larvae settle and grow into adults) in Loch Ryan. Hand drawn maps were provided by the Solway Firth Partnership and then digitised by Marine Scotland using GIS. The datasets have been created in vector polygons and are available in shapefile format.
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Clyde Shipping Density Grid - February 2011 to January 2012 (Number of intersecting vessels) |
The results of a shipping study of the four major scottish ports: Forth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Clyde displaying intersecting vessels between 01/02/2011 and 31/01/2012.
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Landscape / Seascape Assessment of the Firth of Clyde Report |
The 'Landscape / Seascape Assessment of the Firth of Clyde Report' provides a strategic assessment of the coastal landscape and seascape of the Firth of Clyde. This layer divides the coastal landscape into those areas influenced by secluded; remote; isolated; designed and derelict characteristics. The data provides an understanding of what is special about the landscape of the Firth and the experience of this diverse seascape.
This dataset was produced by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and is currently hosted on the Marine Scotland National Marine Plan Interactive mapping tool. Metadata provided from SNH can be found VIA the following link: http://spatialdata.gov.scot/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/...
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Norway Lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) - Effort of vessels landing >75% Nephrops during 2007-2012 (Count of VMS positions) |
The most valuable shellfish species (and sometimes the most valuable commercial species overall to Scotland) is the Norway lobster, Nephrops. This species is distributed in all areas where soft mud and sandy mud occurs. These areas dominate most of the firths of Scotland and extensive areas of the west coast. In more recent years a major fishery has developed at the offshore Fladen Ground in the North Sea and this is now the biggest Nephrops fishery in the world. Nephrops fisheries are prosecuted by a large fleet of generally smaller vessels using otter trawls and on the west coast there is an extensive creel fishery.
The information shown on this data layer indicates areas where effort (measured in number of Vessel monitoring system VMS pings per grid cell) to catch Nephrops takes place. Data is averaged for the period 2007-2012.
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