Response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on extending marine planning zones to 12 nm from the coastal baseline.

Marine planning zones set out the spatial limits for local authorities’ planning controls on marine fish and shellfish farms in Scottish waters. The current marine planning zones extend out to 3 nautical miles from the coastal baseline. The “Scottish Ministers” (i.e., the Scottish Government) are consulting on a proposal to extend these to 12 nautical miles.
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is an independent research
organisation, established in 1884 and housed near Oban since 1969, that provides impartial advice based on scientific evidence. This document supports a response by SAMS to the Scottish Government consultation.
Our arguments relate mainly to the waters on the west coast of Scotland. In summary, we think that, on its own, the proposed extension to existing local authority powers is insufficient for good planning and licencing of aquacultural developments in offshore waters. We identify the need for an adequately funded, and democratically controlled,regional marine planning partnership to identify offshore zones for aquaculture, in what is in essence a single water body extending from the Mull of Kintyre to Cape Wrath.
Realising the potential for aquaculture’s co-location and port sharing with other
industries, such as offshore renewable energy generation, requires an integrated
strategic planning system. Better monitoring and scientific knowledge of these waters is
also needed