Chapter 4: Healthy and Biologically Diverse

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) network in Scotland’s Seas is designed to conserve a selection of marine biodiversity (species and habitats) and geodiversity (the variety of landforms and natural processes that underpin the marine landscapes), offering long-term support for the services our seas provide to society.

Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in Scotland are designated by Scottish Ministers under the EC Habitats Directive. They are areas which have been identified as best representing the range and variety within the European Union of habitats and (non-bird) species listed on Annexes I and II to the Directive. SACs in terrestrial areas and marine areas out to 12 nautical miles are afforded protection through the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended). Possible Special Areas of Conservation (pSAC) may be subject to change prior to submission.

This layer is a Web Map Service (WMS) displaying Scotland's SAC's that contribute to the MPA network.

RSPB reserve boundaries. Note Access field which denotes which reserves have visitor accessThe RSPB Public Reserve Boundaries dataset contains the boundaries of all land managed, leased or owned as part of publicly accessible RSPB reserves.  Areas for which other rights are held or which are not classed as RSPB reserves are excluded.  Some reserves are only represented by an indicative boundary due to confidentiality issues surrounding the definitive boundary

The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) manages a large number of reserves throughout Scotland. Many of these reserves are located in coastal areas. This layer shows the locations of the SWT reserves in Scotland.

Group layer containing EUSeaMap 2023 classified to the EUNIS 2019 Classification system with simplification levels of 200m, 400m and 800m simplification for fast WMS viewing at all scales. Output of the 2023 EUSeaMap broad-scale predictive model, produced by EMODnet Seabed Habitats in the EUNIS 2019 classification. The extent of the mapped area includes the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and areas of the North Eastern Atlantic extending from the Canary Islands in the south to the Barents Sea in the north. The map was produced using a "top-down" modelling approach using classified habitat descriptors to determine a final output habitat. Habitat descriptors differ per region but include: Biological zone Energy class Oxygen regime Salinity regime Seabed substrate Riverine input Habitat descriptors (excepting Substrate) are calculated using underlying physical data and thresholds derived from statistical analyses or expert judgement on known conditions. The model is produced using R and Arc Model Builder (10.1). The model was created using raster input layers with a cell size of 0.00104dd (roughly 100 metres). The model includes the sublittoral zone only; due to the high variability of the littoral zone, a lack of detailed substrate data and the resolution of the model, it is difficult to predict littoral habitats at this scale. Credit: Licensed under CC-BY 4.0 from the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) Seabed Habitats initiative (www.emodnet-seabedhabitats.eu), funded by the European Commission.