Proposals by the Scottish Government to severely restrict a range of activities in 10% of Scottish waters have been slammed by the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF) who warn of a “devastating impact on crofting and crofting communities.”

The Bute House agreement between the SNP and the Greens commits at least 10% Scotland’s seas to be designated as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) by 2026.

HPMAs will place strict limits on some human activities, such as fishing and aquaculture.

The SCF has highlighted the importance low-impact fishing and seaweed harvesting for crofters in coastal and island communities.

SCF chair, Donald MacKinnon said: “Crofting is essentially a part-time activity with households relying on income in many cases from complementary marine-based employment in sectors such as fishing and aquaculture.

“The direct link between small-scale and low-impact activities on land and at sea, which often goes back generations, means that relocation will be very difficult for many crofters.

“A loss of local employment opportunities will, therefore, have a devastating impact on crofting and crofting communities.”

Mr MacKinnon warned that fragile areas, whether on land or at sea, should be protected for current and future generations, but it must be recognised that “humans make a key part of these ecosystems and that they are part of the solution”.

He concluded: “Involving local people in conservation should be a priority and sustainable use should be actively encouraged and supported”.

Speaking in a debate in the Scottish Parliament on HPMAs, Galloway and West Dumfries Tory MSP Finlay Carson said: “If these HPMAs go ahead, everyone involved in our seafood industry sector will have the spectre of redundancy hanging over them for many years to come.

“Is the Scottish Government going to seriously jeopardise plans for a workable blue economy just to appease the Greens, who—make no mistake—are the extremists behind this highly contentious back-of-a-fag-packet policy commitment, who cannot even turn up in the chamber in any numbers to defend their policy?

“There is no robust policy analysis, no data underpinning the process, no indicators to measure the effect and, critically, no assessment of the impact on thousands of families in rural communities. Should we be surprised, given the central belt bias that we often see from the SNP-Green coalition?”

Supporting the measures in the debate, Net Zero Cabinet Secretary Mairi McAllan said: “It is an unavoidable truth that we are in the midst of a climate and nature emergency.

“This Parliament recognised that when every party proceeded to pass some of the world’s most ambitious climate targets into law.

“Our oceans are a vital part of the emergency response that is needed. Scotland’s marine environment stores at least 5.6 billion tonnes of CO2, but recent research shows that the oceans are reaching their capacity to help us. That is because of a number of issues, including human impact on them. If we do not protect our seas, they will not be able to protect us for much longer.

“Despite the considerable progress that has been made to improve the state of our oceans, the Scottish marine assessment of 2020 shows that a number of species are in decline.

“The most recent assessment under the UK marine strategy showed that, across the UK, 11 out of 15 indicators of good environmental status are being missed”.

After the debate, Mr Carson accused coastal and rural MSP’s who voted for HPMAs of a “gross betrayal” of coastal communities across Scotland.