Sula Sgeir Reef Scotland Coral Seaweed Kirsty Andrews

Our focus in Scotland

Scotland has an astonishing 13% of Europe’s seas and 62% of the UK’s – not surprisingly then, we’re pretty big in Scotland! We’ve had an office in Edinburgh for 21 years where our dedicated staff are supported by amazing volunteers.

Watch our film below, narrated by underwater cameraman and our Ocean Ambassador, Doug Allan, to hear about our Scottish successes over the last two decades.

Marine conservation and fisheries management are devolved which means they’re the responsibility of the Scottish Government. We lead the Save Scottish Seas coalition to influence the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament on all matters marine.

So far, we’ve been instrumental in:

achieving the Marine (Scotland) Act
creating 36 new MPAs including the largest in Europe
implementing a National Marine Plan
gaining protection for the most vulnerable inshore MPAs from fishing
getting commitment for an all-in Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers
bringing about bans on cotton bud sticks and microbeads
successfully helping make the case for a new fisheries strategy for Scotland.

But there’s still much to be done as pressures continue to build on Scottish seas. Our team will continue to put the recovery of Scotland's seas front and centre of all agendas.

We urgently need ocean recovery targets set in law, a much-strengthened marine protected area network, a just transition to a climate and nature positive fishing industry and significant investment in ocean recovery.
Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation Scotland

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Our focus in Scotland

Scotland has an astonishing 13% of Europe’s seas and 62% of the UK’s – not surprisingly then, we’re pretty big in Scotland! We’ve had an office in Edinburgh for 21 years where our dedicated staff are supported by amazing volunteers.

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