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IAN JOHNSTON

SCOTLAND'S seas contain some of the most special marine environments in the world, but they are almost completely unprotected from human exploitation.

Now a landmark report on conservation has identified 31 sites around the coast, including St Kilda, the Firth of Forth and Sound of Mull, which could become the basis for a network of marine reserves that would finally begin to redress this situation.

The document, called "Finding NIMAs" (Nationally Important Marine Areas), highlights how these parts of our waters are valuable to Scotland and vulnerable to destruction, with the sea treated as a "common resource" available to all.

It says human activities are beginning to change the fundamental "web of life" under the waves and warns of the economic and environmental consequences if this is allowed to continue. Reserves, or "marine protected areas", would form a central plank of measures taken to reverse this trend.

The report, written for the umbrella group Scottish Environmental Link (SEL), says places of "exceptional biodiversity" and "nationally important marine wildlife", as well as feeding, spawning, mating and migration sites and representative areas of Scotland's key marine habitats should be safeguarded. New regulations "must provide for the restriction of some or all activities" in the zones.

The report says: "Scotland's coasts and seas are among the most diverse in the world, supporting around half of our biodiversity, much of which is of national and international importance. We all rely on this biodiversity. It forms the irreplaceable bedrock of human economic activities.

"There is scientific evidence that human activities, which treat the sea as a 'common resource', are altering the web of life that the sea supports. Like a forest where we have cut down all the trees and wonder why there is neither firewood nor birds, the sea is becoming less able to provide us with the fish and other natural resources our economy and wellbeing depend on. If we improve the overall management of the sea now, it will be better able to recover its health and productivity and we can help to ensure that we can fish and watch dolphins and other wildlife in future. Nationally important marine areas are part of this solution."

Scottish waters are home to colonies containing more than five million seabirds, nearly half the total in the European Union. More than a third of the world's grey seals live in Scotland and it is home to 29 species of whales and dolphins, including the world's most northerly bottlenose dolphin population, in the Moray Firth.

Scottish sea lochs, such as Loch Sween and Loch Etive, are a unique environment within the EU, with the likes of maerl beds, reefs of flameshells and horse mussels, communities of northern sea fans and coldwater corals.

The sea contributes an astonishing amount to our livelihoods: the value of its "ecosystem services" - food production and the flows of nutrients, material and energy - has been put at £14 billion. In more concrete terms, some £370 million worth of fish were landed by Scottish boats in 2006, while Scotland accounts for 90 per cent of the UK's farmed fish, with a "farm gate" value of £300 million. Scotland is also a leading destination for marine tourism, a growing industry that directly employs more than 2,500 people and makes £57 million a year.

But there are signs of trouble, with damage to important habitats on the seabed from dredging, important fish stocks below sustainable levels, salmon returning from the sea in ever fewer numbers, and repeated mass failures of seabird colonies to breed. Marine litter - which has been shown to cause vast numbers of sealife deaths worldwide - is also on the increase.

Calum Duncan, convener of SEL's marine taskforce, said: "Scottish seabirds, rare fish and seabed wonders which provide shelter for hundreds of species, are in decline and in urgent need of protection. Protection areas would help safeguard our marine natural heritage for future generations."

1 LOCH SWEEN

A NATIONAL Scenic Area, this loch is also "beautiful and biologically diverse" under the water. "Within this complex sea loch system, extensive maerl beds carpet tidal channels, mud shrimps farm bacteria in tunnels, tide-swept narrows harbour many species and bright green half-metre-long worms are found," the report says. "Loch Sween is a recognised high quality marine site, yet the features that make it special are not European criteria, there is no legal means to designate the site as nationally important and it remains threatened from human activities."

2 ISLE OF UNST

THE most northerly island in the British Isles, Unst has significant populations of cold water species, such as the sea urchin. It also has a wide variety of habitats that make the area relatively species-rich, including highly wave-exposed sites, others such as Bluemull Sound with strong tidal streams and rare brittlestar communities. Between the islands are sheltered conditions, voes and sounds. The island is important for seabirds, including the National Nature Reserve at Hermaness, and the area attracts large mammals including killer whales.

3 LOCH DUICH

THIS sea loch contains some of the largest beds of crofter's wig seaweed in the world but is outside reefs covered by a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Deep mud supports the "uncommon" tall sea pen, which is "vulnerable to langoustine-trawling and unprotected gravel habitats support the endangered fan mussel vulnerable to scallop-dredging".

The report adds: "This is one of only very few sites in the UK where the fan mussel, [pictured below], has been found inshore."

4 FIRTH OF CLYDE

THE Clyde is the most important site in Britain for eider duck and contains other important features. Loch Shira has the densest colony of fireworks anemones in Scotland. There are flameshell reefs at Port Ann; sheltered reef and deep mud communities throughout the Clyde sea lochs; maerl beds off Inchmarnock and in Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran; an extensive seagrass bed in Whiting Bay; tideswept reefs off the Mull of Kintyre and Pladda and extensive areas of deep-burrowed mud in the Clyde basin.

5 SMALL ISLES (RUM, EIGG, MUCK AND CANNA)

THE waters around Canna support important communities of rare invertebrates, such as the burrowing sea anemone and red sea cucumber.

Rum hosts the world's largest breeding colony of Manx shearwater.

The waters of the Small Isles are one of the most heavily-used feeding areas in Scotland for minke whales and harbour porpoise.

A NIMA would protect important invertebrate species and habitats and could extend protection to critical areas for Manx shearwater, cetaceans and basking sharks.

6 GUNNA SOUND and off OIGH SGEIR

THESE two places were recently identified as hot-spots for basking sharks. Relatively high numbers of large sharks, some 30ft in length, and what were perhaps baby sharks, were observed for the first time in the same area. "Sharks could be gathering in these areas for courtship and breeding. It is promising that populations are reproducing after years of persecution, but basking sharks remain globally vulnerable and under pressure from wildlife tourism and by-catch in Scottish waters," the report says.

7 SOUND OF MULL

THE northern entrance to the Sound of Mull has some of the highest densities of harbour porpoise in UK waters.

The entire Sound is likely to provide a vital corridor for movement of species such as bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoise.

The dense schools of fish here also attract a number of other species such as killer whales, common, Risso's, and white-beaked dolphins.

8 PENTLAND FIRTH

THE firth between the mainland and Orkney has some of the fastest tides in the world.

This is a fact not lost on the renewable energy industry and the area has attracted the attention of those looking to develop tidal power stations.

But its strong currents also stir up nutrients, generally increasing the amount of life in the area. It is also a pinch point of large marine mammals.

9 LOCH ETIVE

UNIQUE among Scottish sea lochs for its "unusually high inflow of freshwater", caused by the rock sill at the Falls of Lora.

The report says: "Several species are found in much greater abundance than in other sea lochs.

"A NIMA [Nationally Important Marine Area] would protect a unique nationally important sea loch that, being so enclosed, is particularly susceptible to excess nutrients and over-exploitation. Though species diversity in the loch is not high, many of the habitat types and the zonation of habitats and species are unique to Loch Etive."

10 MORAY FIRTH

THIS is an important breeding, nursery and feeding area for a resident population of bottlenose dolphins, the most northerly group in the world.

The inner firth is designated as one of a number of existing Special Areas of Conservation along with some sandbanks, but the Scottish Environmental Link report says protection would be improved if it become one of its proposed marine protected areas.

Also contains interesting geological features known as mermaids' tables and a nationally important area for wintering marine waterfowl.

11 ABERDEEN BAY

THIS is an important foraging area for breeding seabirds from nearby coastal areas.

It is also a hotspot for migratory birds and marine waterfowl spending the winter in Scotland.

The bay is also becoming one of best places in Britain to watch dolphins from the shore.

12 FIRTH OF FORTH

THE firth is an important feeding ground for the seabirds which breed on its islands and the surrounding area.

In winter it attracts marine waterfowl.

The report highlights the lack of protection for seabird-foraging areas at sea.

Wildlife lives alongside human activity such as shipping, marinas for yachts, coastal developments and dockyards.

Source - Scotsman.com