Possible Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (pMPA) within the 12 Nautical Mile Territorial Sea limit around Scotland.

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are designated by Scottish Ministers under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. These possible MPAs have been approved by Scottish Ministers for public consultation. As such, the locations are afforded policy protection as if they were designated.
The boundaries of the possible MPAs presented in this dataset represent those being consulted upon within the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea limit (on the basis of advice provided by Scottish Natural Heritage - the Scottish Government's adviser on all aspects of nature and landscape across Scotland). The following URLs provide links to the consultation process websites: www.snh.gov.uk/mpa-consultation and www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation
Possible MPAs in offshore waters adjacent to Scotland (beyond the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea limit) are also included in the consultation exercise. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is the statutory adviser to the Scottish Government for offshore waters. The following URLs provide links to the relevant consultation process websites: www.jncc.defra.gov.uk/scottish-mpa-consultation and www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation

自然保护海洋保护区（MPAs）由苏格兰大臣根据2010年《苏格兰海洋法》设立。这些拟定的MPAs已获得苏格兰大臣的批准，并进入公众咨询阶段。因此，这些区域的地理位置得到了政策上的保护，如同已被正式指定。本数据集中呈现的可能MPAs边界，代表在基于苏格兰自然遗产局（苏格兰政府在苏格兰自然和景观所有方面的顾问）提供的建议下的12海里领海限制范围内的咨询议题。以下URL提供了咨询流程网站的链接：www.snh.gov.uk/mpa-consultation 和 www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation。苏格兰海域外的可能MPAs（超出12海里领海限制）也包含在咨询活动中。联合自然保护委员会是苏格兰政府在近海海域的法定顾问。以下URL提供了相关咨询流程网站的链接：www.jncc.defra.gov.uk/scottish-mpa-consultation 和 www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-consultation。