Layer does not contain time values

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.

Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are present around the coast of Scotland in internationally import numbers. They breed on wave-exposed rocky coasts, sometimes on sand or shingle beaches at the foot of cliffs, often on relatively remote islands, with large groups of pregnant females returning to traditional breeding sites in the autumn. This data shows the breeding colonies currently listed with Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU).

Nephrops distribution is limited by the extent of suitable muddy sediment in which animals construct burrows. Nephrops are assessed across Europe as individual stocks in 34 functional units (FUs). This data combines the ICES functional units (based on ICES statistical rectangles), combined with the actual extent of the muddy sediment, in Scottish & adjacent waters, derived from sediment and VMS data.

The spatial variation in Species Richness of demersal fish in waters around Scotland, averaged over the period 1999 to 2009.

This dataset is part of the larger Spatial Variation of Demersal Fish in Waters Around Scotland Dataset, which includes three layers that show the spatial variation of Demersal fish (generally living on or near the seabed) in waters around Scotland (averaged over the period 1999 to 2008) for:

• Size Composition (Large Fish Indicator) (defined as the proportion of fish (by weight) in the community that is greater than 40 cm in length). The higher the value (varying between 0 and 1), the greater the proportion of large fish in the community.
• Species Richness (a count of the number of demersal fish species recorded in any survey sample).
• Species Diversity (indices that also take account of the relative abundance of each species in the sample).

All three datasets are based on surveys carried out by ICES set up to provide fisheries independent information to support stock assessments.