Caring for Scotland's marine environment

Scotland’s coastal and marine environment is spectacular and diverse. With over 18,000km of coastline, in excess of 900 islands, and a great variety of coastal and marine habitats and wildlife that need to be cared for.

Marine Protected Areas

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 brought in a mechanism for creating new protected sites for both natural and historic interests of national importance and for their sustainable management. These are known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and combined with the SSSI, Ramsar and Natura 2000 network of sites form the Scottish Marine Protected Areas network.

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