HEALTHY AND BIOLOGICALLY DIVERSE SEAS

Scotland’s Marine Atlas

Marine Special Areas of Conservation

Special Protection Areas with a marine component

Seals

There are two species of seals that are found around Scotland’s coast and inshore waters – the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) and the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina). Harbour seal numbers have declined up to 50% in some parts of Scotland, and scientists are trying to find out why.

Did you Know?There are about 50,000 micro-organisms in Scotland’s seas – one for every seat at Hampden Park.

Did you Know?90% of the grey seals & 80% of the harbour (common) seals that breed in Britain come from Scotland.

General

Scotland’s seas contain 6,500 spectacular and diverse marine plant and animal species, and many internationally important populations of seabirds.

Global climate change is also affecting the distribution of some native marine species and the bad news is that in the future, some species may become extinct in Scottish waters.

Did you Know?

In Scotland, there are 56 Sites of Scientific Interest and 58 Special Protection Areas that have a marine/coastal interest.

Harbour seal

Puffin

Cuckoo wrasse

© Paul Kay

© SMRU

Seabirds

In Scotland, there are around 4 million breeding seabirds made up of 24 species. Breeding seabirds, like puffins and gannets, are affected by a range of different things, such as changes in how much food they have, the weather, being hunted by other animals and pollution.

Fish and Shellfish

Shellfish are split in to two main types – molluscs, such as razorfish, scallops and cockles and crustaceans, such as the lobster (Nephrops), velvet and edible crabs.

The fish in Scotland’s seas fall into two main categories too – pelagic species like mackerel and herring, which live in the shallower water and demersal species such as cod and haddock, which live nearer the sea bed. There are also some deep water fish, like orange roughy and Greenland halibut, but they live more than 400 m underwater.

The number of fish (known as fish stocks) is important because it tells scientists how healthy the marine environment is.

Lobster