Highly protected marine areas 'will not be progressed', Mairi McAllan confirms

The Scottish Government has confirmed controversial plans which would have restricted fishing in 10% of waters will not go ahead, with Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan saying that previously proposed highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) "will not be progressed".

The fishing industry, which had been fiercely opposed to the proposals, welcomed her statement - with Conservatives hailing the decision as a "victory for our fishermen".

While 55% of all respondents who responded to a government consultation on HPMAs supported their introduction, a "large majority" of these responses came from a single campaign.

When campaign responses are removed from the consultation, 76% were opposed to HPMAs, with only a fifth (20%) backing their introduction.

SNP and Green ministers in the Scottish Government had previously outlined plans to give 10% of waters this designation, which would have placed strict limits on activities in such areas.

But after an outcry from fishing and coastal communities Ms McAllan said back in June that the government would no longer seek to implement the policy, and would instead develop a "new pathway and timetable" as part of efforts to make Scotland "nature-positive" by 2030.

In its response to the consultation, published on Tuesday, the government confirmed that "HPMAs will not be introduced in 10% of Scottish seas by 2026".

Ms McAllan said: "As I set out in Parliament earlier this year, the proposal to implement highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) across 10% of Scotland's seas by 2026 will not be progressed."

She insisted ministers are "firmly committed to protecting our marine environment" and would "continue to work closely with coastal communities and industries to protect Scotland's seas for the benefit of all".

Elspeth Macdonald, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, welcomed the announcement, but said: "Ministers need to maintain that position and not bring in similar measures through other routes."

She added: "What's important is that we have an approach to conservation that balances marine protection with sustainable use, as the government's existing policies should be aiming to achieve."

Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said: "This analysis confirms that individuals were overwhelmingly opposed to the introduction of HPMAs, and the government was right to listen to these concerns and shelve the proposals.

"This confirmation is a huge relief for salmon farmers and all those who rely on our sector who were concerned about the impact on their livelihoods."

Conservative rural affairs spokesperson Rachael Hamilton MSP said the minister's confirmation was "a victory for our fishermen who made their views known in no uncertain terms that HPMAs would have destroyed the industry and the coastal communities that they support".

She claimed that for "far too long" SNP ministers had "failed to engage with the industry over what this effective ban on fishing would have meant, as they bowed to the demands of their extremist Green partners".

The Tory added: "Now that these wholly unworkable plans have been consigned to history, the SNP-Green government must be upfront about any future plans for marine protection."

Charles Millar, executive director of the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, said: "The Scottish Government's next steps must be guided by community, science and economics, all of which point in the same direction."

He said that for the first time ministers should "allocate substantial areas for the creelers, for dredging and trawling where they can have a lower impact" as well as set areas aside for nature restoration.

Aine Purcell-Milton, executive director of the Community of Arran Seabed Trust, however said the government had so far failed to act to protect the marine environment.

She said: "For the best part of a decade the Scottish Government has continually pledged to implement measures for better marine protection. None of this has happened and now we're left with the impression that the health of Scotland's marine environment matters much more overseas than it does to our own government.

"This is wholesale neglect of responsibility and failure of duty of care to the people of Scotland."

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