What measures are in place to safeguard marine protected site features which may be sensitive to disturbance caused by commercial fishing vessels?
The Welsh Government takes a risk-based approach to fisheries management and enforcement in our MPAs, based on likely interactions between fishing gear types and protected features irrespective of vessel size.
All features within sites are assessed against potential harm from these activities and management provisions are proposed where necessary. For fisheries, in scenarios where there is evidence to demonstrate potential harm to a feature, it is possible to manage impacts within sites using mechanisms such as Fishing Orders. For example, the Scallop Order (2010) prohibits scallop dredging within 1 nautical mile of the Welsh coast and extends protection to include many of our coastal MPAs.
Wales is supporting the UK approach to combine the cetacean and seabird bycatch plans into one UK Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI). The BMI will describe and implement practical and effective methods to improve monitoring and mitigation of sensitive species in UK waters. This will also align with the Ecosystem Objective under the Fisheries Act 2020. Policies for achieving, or contributing to the achievement of, the Fisheries Objectives will be set out in a Joint Fisheries Statement, which is currently being developed by all four Administrations.