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5. WHICH WATERS ARE PROPOSED FOR DESIGNATION?
The Scottish Ministers have considered how to protect the shellfish industry, which is of considerable importance, particularly in remote areas. They have taken note of the Directive's purpose - which is "to contribute to the high quality of shellfish products directly edible by man", and have adopted a policy to designate sites where it has been identified that there is sustainable shellfish growing The proposed new designated sites, drawn up on that basis, are listed below. The maps in Annex B illustrate the boundaries of these proposed waters.
1. Loch Ailort, Highland
An area bounded by lines drawn between NM 68100 78400 and NM 69100 80700, extending to the MHWS.
2. Sandsound Voe, Shetland
An area within lines drawn between HU 34600 50500 and HU 35100 50500 and between HU 35500 47000 and HU 36200 47000, extending to the MHWS.
3. Baltasound Voe and Baltasound Harbour, Unst Shetland
Option A would accommodate only the oyster farm at the foot of the voe, excluding the mouth and mussel farm in the harbour area, with the boundary line being from HP 62710 08800 to HP 62710 08380. Option B matches the boundaries of the existing SHD site, an area bounded by lines drawn between HP 65400 09000 to HP 64900 08000, extending to MHWS, a full loch designation which includes the harbour area.
4. Uyea Sound, Unst, Shetland
An area within lines drawn between HU 60200 98000 and HU 60900 97900, extending to the MHWS.
5. East of Burki Taing, Muckle Roe, Shetland
An extension of the existing SWD at Busta and Linga Voe, an area within lines drawn between HU 31670 62570 to HU 33200 61860, and extending to MHWS.
6. South Wick Cullivoe, Yell, Shetland
An area between lines drawn between HP 55400 02400 to HP 56300 02400 and HP 55000 00400 to HP 55700 00600, extending to the MHWS.
7. Scarva Ayre, Dales Voe, Shetland
Extend neighbouring SWD designation at Colla Firth, draw boundary from mouth of Colla Firth to Fora Ness, an area between the lines drawn between HU 45940 70970 and HU 45860 70290.
8. Loch Fyne Coastal Strip
Extend the existing SWD designation to incorporate those of the existing SHD site: an area between lines drawn between NR 86200 76000 and NR 88000 76000 and between NR 88000 76000 and 88000 70000, and between NR 88000 70000 and NR 87300 70000, extending to MHWS.
Site boundaries have been drawn up to align with areas designated under the parallel Shellfish Hygiene Directive (Directive 91/492/ EEC) wherever possible.
Comments are invited on whether each or any of these sites should be designated as shellfish waters. It would be particularly helpful if comments were backed up by supporting documentation to allow assessment or validation. However, opinions and suggestions without supporting documentation will also be considered.
It may be possible that, as the industry is expanding rapidly, sites currently producing may have been omitted from this list. However, if the farmers of sites other than those given above can demonstrate that they have sustained production on their site, any such sites missing from this list may be considered for designation, during this tranche, or in the future. If a site which is currently in production is not designated, this does not mean that shellfish cannot be harvested from this site - it may just be that the site has not demonstrated the level of production required for designation.
Landward boundaries
The boundaries of all the proposed new waters will extend to Mean High Water Spring ( MHWS). All boundaries of the existing waters were re-aligned to MHWS in 2006 so that the landward boundaries of all SWD waters are consistent. It should also be noted that the National Grid references ( NGRs) in this document now use 12 or 13 digits. This enables us to plot the boundaries with greater accuracy.
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