Overview

The Scottish Government's Marine Directorate, formerly Marine Scotland,  is a Directorate of Scottish Government established in April 2009, is responsible for the integrated management of Scotland's seas for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to Scotland and also defined as the Scottish Inshore and Offshore Regions under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.  

The Scottish Government's Marine Directorates, duties are mainly set out in the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, cover marine planning, policy development, licensing and enforcement and assessment of the state of the seas. Marine Scotland also undertakes scientific research and monitoring as well as fisheries enforcement under various other legislative obligations.

Current Status

Marine Scotland has been renamed as the Marine Directorate of ScotGov in summer 2023, to better reflect its position as a core government body/organisation, not a separate agency. The new format of the name also reflects consistency across the Scottish Government, for example Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate and Environment and Forestry Directorate.

The Scottish Government's Marine Directorate is the guardian of the marine vision of 'clean, healthy, safe, productive, biologically diverse marine and coastal environments, managed to meet the long-term needs of people and nature'. It also licenses a variety of activities under a new Marine Licence regime since April 2011.

The body is responsible for integrated management of Scotland's seas, working closely with delivery partners NatureScot, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). 

Responsibility

The Directorate is responsible mainly for -
1. marine renewable, fishing vessel, freshwater fisheries and seal licensing
2. ensuring compliance with fisheries regulations
3. promoting sustainable, profitable and well-managed fisheries and aquaculture industries
4. ensuring a sound scientific evidence base exists to inform our marine policies
5. the sustainable management of freshwater fish and fisheries resources
6. promoting sustainable economic growth from the marine renewables industry