A Marine Spatial Plan for the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters

Managing our marine environment is vital to ensure our seas continue to provide sustainable resources, jobs and wider economic benefits. Commercial fishing, renewable energy, tourism, recreation, aquaculture, shipping, and oil and gas all contribute towards a diverse marine based economy and the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters have long been recognised as having exceptional renewable resource potential as well as being of very high environmental quality.

A working group consisting of Marine Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Highland Council have developed a pilot Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan. The Plan sets out an integrated planning policy framework, in advance of statutory regional marine planning, to guide marine development, activities and management decisions, whilst ensuring the quality of the marine environment is protected.

The process of piloting this process resulted in many lessons learned that will inform the preparation of future regional marine plans that will be developed by Marine Planning Partnerships. This will support sustainable decision making on marine use and management and provide an important stepping stone towards the introduction of regional marine plans around the entire coast of Scotland.