Closed area · Scottish Government (Marine Scotland)
Bottom-towed gear prohibited
The Inshore Fishing (Prohibition of Fishing and Fishing Methods) (Scotland) Order 2015 - SSI 2015 No. 435 (Art 7) · in force since 2016-02-08
A CAUGHT review has read the instrument behind this closure, rather than relying on the summary published with the boundary. Where the two differ, the instrument governs; this reading was made on 2026-11-03.
fishing for sea fish with a dredge, set net, long line, line, beam trawl, demersal trawl or demersal seine net throughout; creels and parlour creels outside the Creel Fishing Excepted Area
Rule reviewed against the instrument: SSI 2015/435 article 7(1) prohibits fishing with a dredge, set net, long line, line, beam trawl, demersal trawl or demersal seine net throughout the Loch Sunart Protected Area, year-round. Creels are also prohibited, except in the Creel Fishing Excepted Area, which this mapped area includes, so creel fishing is not treated as prohibited here.
Fishing for sea fish with a dredge, set net, long line, line, beam trawl, demersal trawl, demersal seine net, creel or parlour creel is prohibited in the Loch Sunart Protected Area. Fishing for horse mussels is prohibited.
Summary as published in the source dataset, shown for comparison. A dataset paraphrase can be narrower or wider than the instrument it summarises, and finding out which is the work above.
No cases have been recorded in this closure. That is not a finding that nothing happens here — it means our sweeps have not flagged anything inside these boundaries, and coverage depends on satellite passes and on vessels being tracked at all.
What a case here means. A CAUGHT case is a reason to look, not a verdict. Each one is judged on three independent factors — was it fishing, here and then; what gear does the vessel actually use; and what was prohibited there at that time — and the weakest of the three decides. Most cases are resolved.
Boundaries and rule summaries come from the published datasets named at the foot of this page and can contain errors; the legislation is the authority. If you believe this closure is described wrongly, tell us at contact@caught.org.uk.
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