SCOTLAND's marine life could be almost wiped out within 50 years unless tough action is taken to manage the way humans use the seas, a consortium of environmental organisations has warned.
They called for a new marine planning system designed to control developments such as oil rigs and offshore wind farms as well as fishing, fish farms and tourism along with protection for sensitive areas.
Scottish Environment LINK's marine task force also said a new organisation should be created to oversee all activity at sea.
Without these moves, they warned that fish, sea birds and marine mammals would be increasingly at risk as the waters off Scotland become more and more crowded.
Jonny Hughes, the head of policy at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: "Sixteen out of 21 Scottish fish stocks, including cod and Atlantic salmon, are currently being exploited beyond sustainable levels. Unless we get some kind of planning system in place to ensure recovery and sustainable use of all our marine life then, in combination with the effects of climate change, in 40 or 50 years' time much of our important wildlife will have perished."
A recent international review of marine fisheries found 90 per cent of the population of the world's large predatory fish, including tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut, and flounder, had disappeared in the past 50 years.
But fishing is not the only form of human activity threatening sea life. Salmon farms have expanded 13-fold since 1986.
There is concern that in the wrong place such aquaculture can cause damage to other marine life because of the use of chemicals and nutrients.
Coastal development is another serious issue. It has halved the size of the natural inter-tidal area in the Firth of Forth, which was about 18 square miles in the 17th century, while today it is less than nine square miles.
These areas are particularly important for mudflats and seagrass beds, which provide vital feeding areas for migrating birds and young fish. A lack of food has been blamed for serious problems in seabird colonies.
In 1994, more than 75,000 seabirds, including guillemots, shags, kittiwakes and puffins, washed ashore after starving to death and there have been similar, if less severe, starvation events since then. In 2005, the British Trust for Ornithology estimated 1,000 shags died in just two months out of a Scottish population of 21,000 breeding pairs, which makes up 40 per cent of the entire global population of the bird.
While for some animals there is not enough to eat, for others the problem is that what looks like food is actually a deadly trap left by careless humans. Highly endangered leatherback turtles are prone to eating plastic bags and other litter, which can choke them.
In 2004, a specialised boat, the St Mungo, began clearing litter from Firth of Clyde and removed 300 tonnes of litter and debris in its first year.
A report by Scottish Natural Heritage also found there was "some evidence" that harbour porpoises and bottle-nose dolphins in Scottish waters were in decline.
Part of the problem in attempting to address the concerns about marine biodiversity is that too little is known about which species are at most risk, however key members of the marine task force are now convinced that urgent action is needed.
Ahead of this year's elections for the Scottish Parliament, they are all calling for political parties to back a new Scottish Marine Bill, whose provisions would include:
• A planning system that would properly manage human activity at sea;
• A single marine management organisation;
• More protected areas such as marine national parks.
Mr Hughes said that protecting marine life was vital to the fishing industry and coastal communities dependant on the sea for their income.
"Properly introduced, such a system would provide a win-win scenario for both the environment and the economy," he said.
Calum Duncan, the convener of the marine task force and Scottish conservation manager of the Marine Conservation Society, said an example of the current lack of controls was the plan to allow the transfer of oil from ship to ship in the Firth of Forth, an area rich in seabirds and other forms of marine life, that would be at risk if there was a spill. "There are no means to determine whether it should happen or not. It's kind of a fait accompli. There's no requirement on any statutory body to consult on what happens," he said.
"Basically, at sea there's no planning system. What you have is a whole range of activities managed by different [government] departments that historically haven't spoken to each other.
"There are a lot of activities happening at sea and the seas are becoming more and more congested with the expansion of fish farming, renewable energy moving into the marine area, fisheries already there, wildlife watching, increasing recreation and so on."
Wildlife tourists want to watch basking sharks, but poorly managed boat tours can actually cause the "magnificent gentle giants" of the sea distress, and scare them away from their breeding grounds. Under current legislation, basking sharks are protected out to 12 nautical miles - the limit of Scottish control of marine conservation - but not beyond that, even though UK waters extend out to 200 nautical miles.
Mike Park, the chairman of the White Fish Producers Association, backed the call for a system of marine spatial planning, known as MSP, and a marine management organisation.
How we impact on a marine environment
FISHING
Apart from reducing the targeted species, fishing also kills "by-catch" - fish that happen to get caught in the net - along with marine mammals, seabirds and turtles.
Removing large numbers of fish affects animals at the top of the food chain like seals, seabirds and larger fish. Trawling can damage sensitive seabeds such as maerl beds and flameshell reefs.
Lost nets can also carry on "ghost-fishing", drifting through the water, catching and killing fish on the way.
FISH FARMS AND SHELLFISHERIES
Waste including high concentrations of nutrients, chemicals and medicine can affect the environment. They can introduce new diseases, increase numbers of sea lice and escaped farm stock interbreed with wild populations.
Shellfisheries can cause silting and strip nutrients from the water column.
ENERGY PRODUCTION
Risk of oil spills; loss of habitats; structures that absorb wave and tidal energy can affect the natural cycles of the lower layer of the sea.
Estuaries could lose inter-tidal bird feeding areas with the introduction of barrages that reduce the tidal range. Sea loch narrows are often rich in horsemussel and flameshell reefs, maerl beds, anemone and soft corals which could be affected by tidal power schemes.
However oil and gas installations can also provide a home for shellfish and other forms of life, producing a "zone of regeneration" for fish stocks as shipping and fishing is excluded in the area.
SHIPPING
Dumping of litter and waste at sea; use of chemicals that affect hormones of fish in anti-fouling paints; introduction of alien species in ballast water, like sargassum seaweed, plus the potential for oil slicks.
POLLUTION
Chemicals, high concentrations of nutrients including fertilisers running off agricultural land, sewage and litter can all pose problems for most marine life. A recent study found that 96 per cent of dead birds had eaten an average of 23 pieces of plastic.
COASTAL
Defences, erosion and rising sea levels
Building sea defences to protect against the rising sea level causes loss of habitat, while the rise itself causes "coastal squeeze" of salt marshes and mudflats. Sand dunes and machair areas, which are rich habitats for plants and animals, are also under threat of erosion.
MILITARY OPERATIONS
Marine firing ranges are, for obvious reasons, "no go" areas for fishing and other forms of shipping, and they provide havens of biodiversity.
However military shipping has similar effects to other large vessels and low-flying exercises can cause disturbance to sea birds. Sonar navigation systems may also have a serious effect on the natural navigation senses of whales and other animals .
RECREATION AND TOURISM
Beach visitors account for about 20 per cent of beach litter. According to the Tourism and Environment Forum, wildlife tourism boat operators increased by almost 80 per cent between 1997 and 2002. While this can create a greater understanding of the issues, when badly managed it can also cause disturbance to wildlife such as basking sharks.
COASTAL DEVELOPMENT
Can destroy significant wildlife habitats as well as disrupting the natural coastal cycle and affecting vital water quality, nutrients and salt concentrations.
Finnie vows to fix the 'great muddle' of governance
THE way our seas are governed is a "great muddle", the Scottish environment minister, Ross Finnie, admitted, and the solution could lie in a change to the Scotland Act.
Mr Finnie said a Scottish marine bill was not likely to be coming "immediately", but a UK bill expected this year could contain much of the necessary measures to address the situation. He said he agreed the way the seas were administered should be changed.
"There's a great muddle of who's responsible and, therefore, there are two separate but parallel things going on. One is to try and decide what is the policy content; what would we in Scotland like to contribute to this very important debate on marine spatial planning, on nature conservation, on the conservation of our fishing and maritime resource," Mr Finnie said.
"And, secondly, what would be the most effective arrangement that would give recognition to devolution and recognise that, when the Scotland Act was passed, none of this was in contemplation? Can we get a sensible arrangement which allows Scotland and the Scottish Parliament to exercise powers over these matters?
"Once we've sorted that out, you then say do we need a second, Scottish, bill or can this all be wrapped up in a single bill that would make clear that Scottish interests were able to be represented?"
Mr Finnie said an advisory group with representatives from various interested bodies in Scotland had done "quite a lot of work" on the subject of how to improve management of the seas. It has been discussing marine spatial planning and a number of pilot projects - including one on the Firth of Clyde - have been set up to find out who uses the sea and how and what kind of sea life lives where.
The Scottish Executive is currently negotiating over getting some form of control of marine conservation up to the 200 nautical mile limit, rather than 12 miles as at present.
But Mr Finnie added: "I've got no problem about there being an over-arching UK policy framework. If it was possible to have an arrangement where you had a tiered kind of system - an over-arching policy and legislative framework that Scotland was able to have the devolved administration of - that would be ideal. They [Westminster] would set the over-arching principles, we would set the detail."
MARINE PLANNING
THOSE who have battled with the town and country planning system on land may be dismayed at the news anything like it is to be extended to the sea.
It will have a similar main aim - to enable human activity to take place in a controlled way - and the process will be "broadly the same", according to Graham U'Ren, the director of the Royal Town Planning Institute Scotland and a member of a Scottish Executive advisory committee on the subject.
However, those fearing that lobster fishermen, for example, will have to apply for planning permission every time they want to put out new pots needn't worry.
"Marine spatial planning" (MSP) will involve drawing areas where certain things are allowed and not allowed. But the goal is to avoid conflict between different human activities at sea.
Shipping lanes could be protected from developments like wave power energy schemes and the impact of any marine development on wildlife would to be taken into account. The Westminster government is expected to publish a Marine Bill white paper this year.
MARINE MANAGEMENT
CONTROL of the seas is currently divided between a range of government departments.
This is seen as a recipe for chaos by both environmentalists and fishing industry leaders.
For example, fishing out to the 200 nautical-mile limit of UK waters is controlled by the Scottish Executive.
However it is only responsible for marine conservation - a closely linked issue - up to 12 nautical miles.
Waters beyond that come under the sway of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affair.
Meanwhile the UK Department for Trade and Industry is responsible for issuing licences to the oil and gas industry.
The creation of a single marine management organisation, or MMO, would mean amalgamating various government departments which have an interest in the marine environment into a single body.
Supporters of the idea believe this would significantly improve management of our seas, leading to benefits for everyone, and the environment as a whole.
NATIONAL PARKS
HUMAN activity at sea has reached such an extent that environmentalists want a network of safe havens to be set up around Scotland's coast.
They say marine national parks and other forms of protected status could be used to safeguard rare or threatened species.
The first part of the process would be to establish which areas are the most important and what kind of protection is needed. This could include restrictions on types of fishing, industrial and recreational activity - from relatively mild measures to a complete ban. The first Coastal and Marine National Park in the UK is expected to be in Scotland with several possible sites already identified, including the Argyll coast and islands, Lochaber and Skye, the Western Isles and Shetland.
However "sustainable fishing" would be allowed, along with controlled aquaculture, recreation and tourism.
Fish caught in a national park could actually be marketed as coming from a sustainable environment, enabling fishermen operating in the area to get a higher price for their catch.
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