Marine Conservation in Scotland - Scottish Seabird Centre

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 Renewables

Scotland’s seas are a great source of renewable energy and renewable developments are an important part of the transformative change required if Scotland is to reach its legally binding target of being ‘net zero’ by 2045. We value the contribution that offshore renewable developments (wave, tidal and offshore wind) can make to the decarbonisation of the energy sector. These technologies are, however, still relatively new and it's important to understand their impact on the environments they are deployed in. It is important that offshore renewables are deployed in ways that do not significantly damage the marine environment and its wildlife.

Health of the Marine Environment

The UK’s marine area covers nearly 880,000 km2. Scotland’s seas, from our shallow inter-tidal waters to the open oceans which are thousands of feet deep, make up 61% of the UK marine area.

Origins of nature conservation

There’s a long history to how nature conservation protections have developed which dates back to 1889 when Emily Williamson founded the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Legal and policy framework

In the 1940s nature conservation made it into the statute books with the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act (1949) which put in place the foundations for the National Parks we value today.