Recommended PMFs and existing designations summary table
Priority Marine Feature(PMF) | Scottish marine area important for PMF | Habitats Directive | Wildlife & Countryside Act | CITES | OSPAR threatened and/ordeclining habitats and species | BAP priority habitat/ species | IUCN Global Red list status | MPA search feature (offshore/territorial) | Proposed MPA protected feature(offshore/territorial) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue mussel beds | Territorial waters | Annex I | Regions II,III (LS.LBR.LMus.Myt.Sa &LS.LBR.LMus.Myt.Mx only) | √ (except IR.LIR.IFaVS.MytRS) | Territorial waters | ||||
| Burrowed mud | Both | Regions I, II, III, IV (habitat components only) | √ (except Maera loveni ) | Both (not Maera loveni ) | Both (not Maera loveni ) | ||||
Carbonate mound communities | Offshore waters | Region V | √ (related to Carbonate Mounds) | Offshore waters | |||||
Cold-water coral reefs | Both | Annex I | Appendix II | All regions where they occur |
√ | ||||
| Coral gardens | Offshore waters | Annex I | All regions where they occur | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | ||||
Deep sea sponge aggregations | Offshore waters | Annex I | All regions where they occur |
√ | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | |||
| Flame shell beds | Territorial waters | √ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||||
| Horse mussel beds | Territorial waters | Annex I | All regions where they occur |
√ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||
Inshore deep mud with burrowing heart urchins | Territorial waters |
√ | Territorial waters | ||||||
| Intertidal mudflats | Territorial waters | Annex I | All regions where they occur |
√ | |||||
| Kelp and seaweed communities on sublittoral sediment | Territorial waters | √ (Subtype SS.SMp.KSwSS.LsacR .CbPb only) | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||||
| Low or variable salinity habitats | Territorial waters | Annex I (habitat components only) | Schedule 8 (Lamprothamnium papulosum only) | √ (except IR.LIR.IFaVS and Hydrobia acuta neglecta) | Territorial waters | ||||
| Maerl beds | Territorial waters | Annex I | Region III | √ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||
Maerl or coarse shell gravel with burrowing sea cucumbers | Territorial waters | Annex I |
√ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | ||||
| Native oysters | Territorial waters | All regions where they occur (habitat), Region II (species) |
√ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | ||||
| Northern sea fan and sponge communities | Territorial waters | Annex I (habitat components only) |
√ | Both (habitat components in territorial watersonly) | Territorial waters | ||||
Offshore deep sea muds | Offshore waters |
√ | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | |||||
| Offshore subtidal sands gravels | Offshore waters | Annex I (if in <20m of water) |
√ | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | ||||
| Seagrass beds | Territorial waters | Annex I | All regions where they occur (LS.LMp.LSgr.Znol and SS.SMp.SSgr.Zmar only) |
√ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||
Sea loch egg wrack beds | Territorial waters | Annex I |
√ | Territorial waters | |||||
Seamount communities | Offshore waters | All regions where they occur |
√ | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | ||||
Serpulid aggregations | Territorial waters | Annex I |
√ | ||||||
Submarine structures made by leaking gases | Both | Annex I | |||||||
Tide-swept algal communities | Territorial waters | Annex I |
√ | Territorial waters | |||||
| Tide-swept coarse sands with burrowing bivalves | Territorial waters | Annex I |
√ | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | ||||
| Burrowing sea anemone | Territorial waters |
√ | Territorial waters (aggregations) | Insufficient information to identify MPA proposal | |||||
| Pink sea fingers* | Territorial waters | ||||||||
White cluster anemone* | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||||||
| Northern feather star* | Both | Both (aggregations on mixed substrata) | Territorial waters (aggregations on mixed substrata) | ||||||
| Fan mussel | Both | Schedule 5 |
√ | Both (aggregations) | Territorial waters (aggregations) | ||||
| Heart cockle* | Territorial waters | Territorial waters (aggregations) | Insufficient information to identify MPA proposal | ||||||
| Ocean quahog | Both | Region II | Both (aggregations) | Offshore waters (aggregations); Territorial waters (species) | |||||
| European spiny lobster | Territorial waters |
√ | Territorial waters | Insufficient information to identify MPA proposal | |||||
Eel (marine part of life cycle) | Territorial waters | Appendix II | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Critically Endangered | ||||
| Atlantic salmon (marine part of life cycle) | Territorial waters | Annex II (freshwater only) and Annex V | All regions where it occurs |
√ |
Lower risk - least concern | ||||
| European river lamprey (marine part of life cycle) | Territorial waters | Annex II (freshwater only) and Annex V |
√ |
Lower risk - least concern | |||||
Sea lamprey (marine part of life cycle) | Territorial waters | Annex II (freshwater only) | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | ||||
Sea trout (marine part of lifecycle) | Territorial waters |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | ||||||
Sparling (marine part of lifecycle) | Territorial waters |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | ||||||
| Anglerfish | Both | √ | |||||||
| Atlantic halibut | Offshore waters | √ | Endangered | ||||||
| Atlantic herring | Both |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | ||||||
| Atlantic mackerel | Both | √ | |||||||
| Black scabbardfish | Offshore waters |
√ | |||||||
| Blue ling | Offshore waters | √ | Offshore waters | ||||||
| Blue whiting | Offshore waters | √ | |||||||
| Cod | Both | Regions II, III | √ | Vulnerable | |||||
| Greenland halibut | Offshore waters | √ | |||||||
| Horse mackerel | Offshore waters | √ | |||||||
| Ling | Both | √ | |||||||
| Norway pout* | Both | ||||||||
| Orange roughy | Offshore waters | All regions where it occurs | √ | Offshore waters | Offshore waters | ||||
Round-nose grenadier | Offshore waters |
√ | |||||||
| Saithe* | Both | ||||||||
| Sandeels | Both (only Ammodytes marinus occurs offshore) | √ (Ammodytes marinus only) | Both (only Ammodytes marinus occurs offshore) | Both (only Ammodytes marinus occurs offshore) | |||||
| Sand goby* | Territorial waters | ||||||||
| Whiting | Both | √ | |||||||
| Basking shark | Both | Schedule 5 | Appendix II | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Vulnerable | Territorial waters | Territorial waters (search location identified) | |
| Common skate | Both | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Critically Endangered | Territorial waters | Territorial waters | |||
Leafscale gulper shark | Offshore waters | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Vulnerable | |||||
| Porbeagle shark | Offshore waters | Appendix III (Appendix II from 14 Sept 2014) | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Vulnerable | ||||
| Portuguese dogfish | Offshore waters | All regions where it occurs |
√ | Near threatened | |||||
| Sandy ray | Offshore waters | √ | Vulnerable | ||||||
| Spiny dogfish | Both | All regions where it occurs | √ | Vulnerable | |||||
Atlantic white-sided dolphin | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | |||
| Bottlenose dolphin | Both | Annex II and Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | |||
| Fin whale | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix I | √ | Endangered | |||
| Harbour porpoise | Both | Annex II and Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II | Regions II, III |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | ||
| Killer whale | Both | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II | √ | Data Deficient | |||
Long-finned pilot whale | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Data Deficient | |||
| Minke whale | Both | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix I |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | Territorial waters | Territorial waters (search location identified) | |
Northern bottlenose whale | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix I |
√ | Data Deficient | |||
| Risso's dolphin | Both | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | Territorial waters | Territorial waters (search location identified) | |
Short-beaked common dolphin | Both | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | |||
Sowerby’s beaked whale | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Data Deficient | |||
| Sperm whale | Offshore waters | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix I | √ | Vulnerable | |||
| White-beaked dolphin | Both | Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix II |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | Territorial waters | Territorial waters (search location identified) | |
Harbour / common seal | Both | Annex II and Annex V |
√ | Lower risk - least concern | |||||
| Grey seal | Both | Annex II and Annex V | Lower risk - least concern | ||||||
| Otter | Territorial waters | Annex II and Annex IV | Schedule 5 | Appendix I |
√ | Near threatened |
*This table covers only the main lists used during the process to identify PMFs in Scotland's seas. Species with an asterisk which do not correlate with any of the reporting categories provided in this table have originated from other lists, for example sand goby is on Appendix 3 of the BERN Convention, while Norway pout is included on the Scottish Biodiversity List.