DTI strategic environmental assessment
The Department for Trade and Industry
(DTI) completed a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) for an
area to the north and west of Shetland known as the "White Zone"
(DTI, 2000). It is the intention of Government to complete a series
of further sectoral SEAs with the ultimate objective of assessing
the entire UK continental shelf.
The purpose of the SEA process is to assess
the potential impact of the offshore oil and gas licensing rounds,
and to promote environmentally sound development of Britain's
hydrocarbon resources. Information provided as part of the SEA
process will be used to inform the environmental sensitivity of the
region, and as a result, blocks may be withdrawn or conditions
imposed.
This report is a contribution to the second of these strategic
assessments, SEA2, which covers the mature oil and gas fields of
the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea. It deals with issues
concerning fish resources such as spawning areas and nursery
grounds, and the commercial exploitation of the main fishing stocks
in the North Sea. In such a strategic assessment, it is clearly
necessary to focus attention on the implications for fish and
fisheries of continued exploration and production of oil and gas
reserves. Of necessity this will deal with the North Sea on a broad
scale rather than identify sensitivities in individual fields.
There are, however, a number of other human activities in the North
Sea which also impact fish and fisheries, and foremost amongst
these is the effect of commercial exploitation itself. The recent
Quality Status Report of the North Sea undertaken by OSPAR (OSPAR
2000), identified in the highest impact class several human
activities such as the direct and indirect effects of fishing and
the input of nutrients and trace organic contaminants from land.
This report will deal only with the impact on fish and fisheries of
the oil and gas industry and commercial fisheries. It will also
discuss the interaction between these two industries and potential
sources of conflict.
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