Marine Protected Areas Designations

30 Marine Protected Areas (MPA), which will be incorporated into the National Marine Plan and represented in National Marine Plan interactive alongside existing protected areas, have now been designated under the Marine (Scotland) Act and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act.


The Nature Conservation MPA network consists of 30 MPAs: 17 MPAs under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 in Scottish territorial waters and 13 MPAs under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 that have been recommended by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. These designations fulfil duties in both the the Marine (Scotland) Act and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, as well as furthering commitments to form part of the wider UK contribution to the OSPAR North-East Atlantic MPA network.

Please note that three of the MPAs that were consulted upon as options and alternatives (South-east Fladen, Western Fladen, and South-west Sula Sgeir and Hebridean Slope) for representation of features in certain pMPAs have not been taken forward to designation, and therefore no longer carry policy protection.

A map that shows the new Nature Conservation MPAs is also available.

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