Open Government Licence (OGL)

The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters supports a diverse marine economy and a vast majority of the area is used for multiple activities. This means there is a potential for competition and conflict. The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters was chosen to pilot the development of a marine spatial plan to support sustainable management of the area’s seas. It aims to balance the needs of local communities and marine economic activities whilst protecting the environment on which they depend. The pilot Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan is being developed by a working group that includes Marine Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Highland Council. This pilot Plan aims to put in place a planning policy framework in advance of statutory regional marine planning to support sustainable decision making on marine use and management. Through the process of producing the pilot Plan, there have been many lessons learned, which will be published shortly, to inform the preparation of future regional marine plans and the governance arrangements that could underpin Marine Planning Partnerships. It is also anticipated that the pilot Plan will establish a useful basis for the preparation of the two future regional marine plans for Orkney and the North Coast Scottish Marine Regions. This layer displays map 1 of the plan, which shows the total area included in the marine spatial plan.

The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters (PFOW) supports a diverse marine economy and a vast majority of the area is used for multiple activities. This means there is a potential for competition and conflict. The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters was chosen to pilot the development of a marine spatial plan to support sustainable management of the area’s seas. It aims to balance the needs of local communities and marine economic activities whilst protecting the environment on which they depend. The pilot Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan is being developed by a working group that includes Marine Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Highland Council. This pilot Plan aims to put in place a planning policy framework in advance of statutory regional marine planning to support sustainable decision making on marine use and management. Through the process of producing the pilot Plan, there have been many lessons learned, which will be published shortly, to inform the preparation of future regional marine plans and the governance arrangements that could underpin Marine Planning Partnerships. It is also anticipated that the pilot Plan will establish a useful basis for the preparation of the two future regional marine plans for Orkney and the North Coast Scottish Marine Regions. This layer displays map 1 of the plan, which shows key locations in the PFOW.

The UK sub region layer  shows how Scottish seas are divided between the two Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) UK sub regions: "Greater North Sea" and "Celtic Seas".

This dataset was produced using a number of datasets supplied to Cefas. This included the boundary of the MSFD area (based on the UK Renewable Energy Zone and limits of the UK continental shelf), Water Framework Directive (WFD), Coastal and Transitional waterbodies (supplied by Environment Agency, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Northern Ireland Environment Agency) and using boundaries between Charting Progress 2 reporting areas. The attributes were developed in line with MSFD reporting requirements

In 2014, the Scottish Government commissioned Land Use Consultants to undertake a study to fill data gaps on marine recreation and tourism activity in Scotland and to provide baseline information for marine planning. The project was designed and undertaken with the industry and co-funded by the Scottish Government with additional contributions from The Firth of Clyde Forum, The Crown Estate and The Scottish Coastal Forum.  This layer depicts sea angling from the shore.