Fisheries sensitivity maps
The booklet 'Fishery Sensitivity Maps in British Waters'* has
been produced by the Fisheries Agencies with support from the
United Kingdom Offshore Operator's Association (UKOOA), the
Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF) and the National Federation
of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO). It has two primary purposes.
Firstly, it seeks to provide information to enable all interested
parties better to understand the potential for interaction between
the fishing and offshore oil and gas industries. Secondly, it seeks
to encourage meaningful dialogue in order that competing concerns
can be addressed and, wherever possible, dealt with as early as
possible in the planning process. It will also aid the newly
introduced environmental impact assessment process, and will inform
seismic, exploration, field development and decommissioning
activities and the preparation of oil spill response
strategies.
The fisheries agencies collect information about the marine
environment and the living resources it supports in order to advise
on regulation and conservation policy. The staff involved in work
connected with the fishing and offshore oil and gas industries are
located at centres in Scotland and England. The Aberdeen Marine
Laboratory, formerly part of the Scottish Office Agriculture,
Environment and Fisheries Department (SOAEFD) is now a division of
Fisheries Research Services (FRS), an Executive Agency of The
Scottish Office. The Lowestoft and Burnham-on-Crouch Laboratories
are now part of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and
Aquaculture Science (Cefas), an Executive Agency of the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The maps have been compiled from data collected and collated by
FRS and Cefas. This work forms part of comprehensive study
programmes financed, respectively, by The Scottish Office and by
Defra. The data are mapped as reported and describe the
sensitivities of the main commercial species. The booklet (PDF, 3.1
MB) contains maps under five headings:
- Individual species spawning areas
- Individual species nursery areas
- Monthly seismic restriction areas
- Fishing effort maps
- Relative value maps.
*
Coull, K.A., Johnstone, R., and S.I. Rogers. 1998. Fisheries
Sensitivity Maps in British Waters. Published and distributed by
UKOOA Ltd, 9 Albyn Terrace, Aberdeen