Main Policy gaps

Agriculture is still mainly regulated through land based planning and water-environment rules, not as a direct marine planning sector despite being crucial to overall marine environment. The National Marine Plan (NMP) deals with water quality and alignment, but agricultural runoff is usually managed through various regulatory bodies including SEPA, River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), NVZ rules, farming guidance and local use planning. This highlights the practical governance gap between farm-level compliance and coastal/marine ecosystem outcomes. 

The North East has a regional marine planning gap. Scotland has 11 Scottish Marine Regions, including the North East, but the latest Scottish Government marine planning updates highlight adopted regional marine plans for Shetland and Orkney, not a North East Regional Marine Plan.

There is an evidence gap at the regional coast-catchment basin. The National Marine Plan explicitly recognises the need to address evidence gaps, while East Grampian coastal baseline material also indicates that some local datasets had to be gathered for the first time. This supports a recommendation for better local mapping of farmland, drains, burns, river mouths, bathing waters, protected habitats, erosion-prone coastal land and nutrient-sensitive areas.