View submitted responses where consent has been given to publish the response.
The purpose of this consultation is to seek your views on the designation of Loch Carron as a Marine Protected Area as well as the associated Marine Conservation Order.
Under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Ministers can designate a Marine Protected Area (MPA) on an urgent basis without publishing notice of their proposals or consulting those likely to be affected.
Loch Carron was designated as an MPA in this way in May 2017, following confirmation of damage to sensitive seabed habitats in the area. An urgent Marine Conservation Order (MCO) was put in place at the same time to manage fisheries activity.
The existing urgent MPA and MCO are still in place in Loch Carron. However, an MPA designated on an urgent basis only lasts for a maximum of two years. Normal
procedures for protected area designations, including public consultation, need to be undertaken to designate a permanent MPA.
Therefore, the two items below are the subject of this public consultation:
Through this 12-week public consultation we are seeking views on:
This page serves as notice for two purposes:
In accordance with section 87(7)(b) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, a copy of the draft Order can be downloaded or inspected at:
Scottish Government
1A South
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Please email Marine_Conservation@gov.scot in order to make arrangements if you would like to inspect the Order in person.
Additional information:
The boundary of the Loch Carron MPA and the proposal to include maerl beds, another diverse and particularly sensitive seabed habitat as a feature of the site, were developed by SNH in discussion with Marine Scotland following new survey work in 2017.
Maerl beds are one of the inshore Priority Marine Features for which work is currently underway to identify where additional fisheries management is needed in Scottish waters.
Related documents
In addition to the information provided in the overview section (see above), Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have produced a number of supporting documents and links which can be found below.
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