Seas west of Scotland
It can be considered largely as the International Council for Exploration of the Sea[2] area VIa whose easternmost boundary is nearly halfway between Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth and whose southern extent to the west is in Donegal Bay.
The UK's new Marine and Coastal Access Act[4] will have limited direct influence on the waters west of Scotland because they are under the jurisdiction of the devolved administrations of Scotland and Northern Ireland (The Scottish Executive introduced a bill to their Parliament in April 2009[5] and one should be introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2012).
[7] Belfast, a major port and historic shipbuilding centre, is larger but is considered to be facing the Irish Sea.
A possible explanation is that Scots leave rural areas for higher education and first job experience but these movements are compensated by English people in their 40s arriving to raise a family in wholesome surroundings.
Gaelic is spoken as a minority language in many parts of the area with strongholds in the Outer Hebrides and Tyrconnel in Donegal.
The nephrops skippers from the West of Scotland did not feel that quotas were a limiting factor but were very concerned with low prices.
Even with protective measures in place, cod is still being exploited through by-catches at a higher rate than recommended by scientists, haddock is being fished above the precautionary level and although the anglerfish is profitable, lack of scientific data means that the stock's ecological stability is unknown.
One can expect a pelagic catch that fluctuates about a mean at approximately today's level, little recovery in the demersal stocks and reduced nephrops landings.
Wild salmon are iconic creatures whose anadromous migrations require undisturbed pathways from highland streams to feeding grounds off Greenland.
So their presence in Scottish rivers is not only a great tourist attraction but an indicator that conservation measures in all aquatic environments are working.
The three year, €5.5 million SALSEA-Merge research[15] funded by the EU Framework Programme and partner organisations (the Total Foundation and the Atlantic Salmon Trust) is investigating this question.
On 8 January 2010,[17] new 'Round 3' were rights granted in 9 UK coastal zones with a potential for 6,400 additional turbines generating 32GW which far exceeds previous plans.
Plans to build an onshore wind farm on the Isle of Lewis will require undersea cabling.
Transport to the islands in the waters west of Scotland is largely assured by a ferry service that is run by CalMac Ltd which serves 26 routes.
The company is owned by the Scottish Executive and receives a subsidy of around £45 million a year to offer a lifeline service.
In 2009 the European Commission found[19] that, with the exception of the Gourock-Dunoon ferry, these subsidies did not break state aid rules .
A review of the services was undertaken in 2009 with a view to providing a ferry service that will achieve more balanced growth across Scotland, to give the most remote areas of Scotland the chance to contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable economic growth and therefore give them the chance to succeed.
