Local Authorities have a duty to designate any relevant areas where the air quality objectives are not (or are unlikely to be) being met as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs). AQMAs must be designated officially by means of an 'order'. The extent of the AQMA may be limited to the area of exceedance or encompass a larger area. Following the declaration of an AQMA, the local authority is required to develop and implement a plan (Air Quality Action Plan) to improve air quality in that area. AQMAs can be for a combination of NO2, SO2, PM10. Most data provided by local authorities is in polygon format. However, some is provided in point and line form so we are currently buffering such data by the width of a road or so in order to merge them in to the national polygon dataset. Some smaller local authorities e.g. Dundee, use the entire extent of their local authority, as digitised in Ordnance Survey's BoundaryLine dataset, for the AQMA. We have included date of AQMA declaration in our national schema, though many LAs do not currently provide this. Revoked AQMAs are now held in this dataset with a 'Date revoked' attribute

Simulated change in mean groundwater head between the future (3 degree warming, minimum precipitation change) and past (1998-2018) for Drava-Mura aquifer, Croatia. Simulated by a 100 m by 100 m grid. Unit: Meters.

Simulated change in mean groundwater head between the future (3 degree warming, minimum precipitation change) and past (1981-2010) for Avre, France. Simulated by a 500 m by 500 m grid to 100 m by 100 m grid near rivers. Unit: Meters.

Simulated change in mean groundwater head between the future (3 degree warming, maximum precipitation change) and past (1981-2010) for Avre, France. Simulated by a 500 m by 500 m grid to 100 m by 100 m grid near rivers. Unit: Meters.

Simulated change in mean groundwater head between the future (1 degree warming, minimum precipitation change) and past (1981-2010) for Avre, France. Simulated by a 500 m by 500 m grid to 100 m by 100 m grid near rivers. Unit: Meters.

Marine Scotland commissioned SNH to identify locations within inshore waters (6NM limit) where there is a need to consider additional management for bottom contacting mobile fishing gears to ensure there is no significant impact on the national status of 11 PMFs*. A consultation was launched in July 2018 seeking views on the data and evidence sources; the proposed management approach; and reasonable alternatives. The following data has been made available: point data for 10 PMF species and their management status (native oysters are excluded for sensitivity reasons); polygon extents of "areas for management consideration" and "knowledge gaps"; polygon extents of estimated fishing footprint of bottom trawl and scallop dredge for period 2009-2016; illustrative management areas for PMFs outside of the MPA network. *The PMFs encompassed by the review are Blue mussel beds, Cold water coral reefs, Fan mussel aggregations, Flame shell beds, Horse mussel beds, Maerl beds, Maerl or coarse shell gravel with burrowing sea cucumbers, Native oysters, Northern sea fan and sponge communities, Seagrass beds, Serpulid aggregations

Many countries around the world have begun to adopt zonation systems as a strategic framework to guide their approach to the conservation, enhancement, understanding and use of the natural heritage. The natural heritage zonation approach adopted by SNH is intended to provide a logical framework, reflecting the diversity of Scotland's natural heritage, within which SNH can clearly and simply plan and execute its work. The zones are not, therefore, intended as a classification of the natural heritage but, rather as an operational tool which is founded in the natural heritage.

Category 1, 2 and 3 areas are designated on the basis of Marine Scotland predictive models to estimate environmental sensitivity of sea lochs. The maps describe the Category 1, 2 and 3 areas for the Scottish Government Locational Guidelines, designated on the basis of Marine Scotland Science predictive modelling to estimate nutrient enhancement and benthic impact in sea lochs or similar water bodies supporting aquaculture. The sum of these indices was used for the categorisation of areas as indicated: Combined 'nutrient enhancement' and 'benthic impact' indices 7 - 10 (Category 1), 5 - 6 (Category 2), 0 - 4 (Category 3). For a detailed explanation of how these categorisations were derived, refer to the Scottish Fisheries Research (now Marine Scotland Science) Report "Scottish Executive locational guidelines for fish farming: predicted levels of nutrient enhancement and benthic impact"

Fishing pressures can be managed using spatial measures such as prohibiting or restricting certain types of fishing, target species, or vessel capacity. This dataset depicts restrictions defined by EU, UK and Scottish legislation since 1986. Does not include boundaries for the voluntary system of Real Time Closures (RTCs) or the legislative juvenile RTCs. Polygons were simplified for web use and are for illustrative purposes only. Guidance should be sought from Fishery Offices on interpreting legislation. In the 2012 "Report to the Scottish Parliament on Progress to Identify a Scottish Network of Marine Protected Areas" (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0041/00410766.pdf), eight fisheries restriction areas were also considered to contribute to the MPA network as existing "other area based measures".

In response to local declines in common seal numbers, the Scottish Government introduced conservation orders under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 to provide additional protection on a precautionary basis for vulnerable local populations of common seals. In September 2004, the Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2004 to cover common and grey seals in the Moray Firth, and in March 2007, the Conservation of Seals (Scotland) Order 2007 to cover common seals only in the Northern Isles and Firth of Tay. The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 introduces provisions for existing orders to continue, and for new ones to be introduced administratively as Seal Conservation Areas. The repeal of the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 on 31st January 2011 means that the existing orders will cease if not replaced by Seal Conservation Areas. The Scottish Government intends therefore to continue these existing orders in the form of Seal Conservation Areas from 1 February 2010.