Introduction to the West Highland area management plan

Purpose of this plan

This plan aims to maintain and improve the quality of the rivers, lochs, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater areas which make up the water bodies of the West Highland area. It is a local action plan which supplements the river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district and which will help to deliver the Water Framework Directive objectives.

The river basin planning process must link to, and reflect the requirements of, other plans and processes. These include strategies developed for flood management and climate change. Further detail can be found in Chapter 3 of the river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district pdf link (960kb). Links will also be made at a local level, but are not discussed in detail here.

This plan, which has been produced in partnership with the West Highland Area Advisory Group, focuses on local actions for the West Highland area and highlights the opportunities for partnership working to ensure that we all benefit from improvements to and protection of the water environment. This plan runs from 2009 to 2015, when it will be reviewed and the next six year cycle of planning will begin.

In 2008, 92% of all water bodies in the West Highland area were classified as being at good or high ecological status or potential. This plan sets out specific targets for securing improvements in the West Highland area and includes actions that will both prevent deterioration and secure improvement where water bodies are at less than good ecological status or potential. The section of this document on ‘The water environment and achieving the environmental improvements’ gives more information how ecological status is measured and targets set.

This plan describes how the vast majority of the water environment in the West Highland area is of good or high quality. This is a key requirement for many of the economically important activities of the area such as angling, fin fish and shellfish farming and water based recreation and tourism. Environmental quality is also reflected in the high number of sites designated to protect important features such as shellfish growing, freshwater fish, bathing waters, drinking waters and nature conservation.

What area does this plan cover?

The West Highland advisory group area (see Map 1) covers the catchments of the Western Isles, Skye and the small isles and the western seaboard of mainland Scotland from Cape Wrath to Ardnamurchan. The area includes adjacent estuarine and coastal waters out to three nautical miles. It also includes groundwater which provides flow in many rivers.

A high quality water environment is central to supporting and sustaining the economic growth of West Highland as well as to providing general amenity and diverse opportunities for recreation. Sea lochs such as Loch Nevis, Loch Seaforth and Loch Broom provide an excellent environment for sea fishing, fish farming, shellfish growing and angling, while some of the larger freshwater systems such as Loch Morar, Loch Maree and Loch Langavat support important salmon and trout fisheries.

Land-based activities include extensive cattle and sheep farming, crofting, the management of sporting estates for deer and angling, forestry, sea fishing, community angling and shellfish growing. Tourism is now the most important economic sector for the area and activities include touring, walking, climbing, mountain biking, sailing, surfing and wildlife watching.

The last 20 years have seen the establishment and expansion of the caged marine and freshwater salmon farming industry. The shellfish farming industry also has an important base in the West Highland area. Both industry sectors are crucially important to the economy of fragile remote communities, and the quality of the water in the West Highland area is fundamental to the quality and marketing of this fresh produce.

The West Highland area has several large-scale hydropower schemes: Kerry, Storr Lochs, Skye, Giosla and Chliostair (with some water also diverted from the West Highland area to the Conon and Garry schemes), plus growing numbers of smaller, ‘run of river’ schemes and some recently installed onshore wind farms.

The West Highland area contains some of the remotest communities in Scotland and it has one of the lowest population densities in Western Europe. Providing services such as drinking water and sewage disposal is therefore challenging.

Map 1: West Highland advisory group area showing the main catchments

Map 1: West Highland advisory group area showing the main catchments (click for larger image)

How to use this plan

This plan is for the West Highland Area Advisory Group and:

  • anyone who manages or uses the water environment;
  • anyone who manages activities on land that interacts with the water environment;
  • anyone who wants to know more about how our water environment is being protected.

This plan co-ordinates the delivery of the river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district within the West Highland advisory group area. The Scotland river basin management plan also includes several chapters explaining the different parts of the river basin planning process. You may find it helpful to see how the aims and objectives of this area management plan will contribute to what we are trying to achieve on a larger, Scotland river basin district scale.

This plan has three key components, all available on the SEPA website:

  1. Area management plan summary (this document) is an overview of the water environment in the West Highland advisory group area including classification, objectives, key measures and an outline of the work plan for the area advisory group for the next year.
  2. Catchment summaries provide information on classification, pressures, measures and objectives for each catchment. More detailed catchment profiles may be produced for some catchments if the area advisory group needs such information to support particular projects.
  3. Action plan with information about how the West Highland Area Advisory Group will work together to deliver the area management plan and a record of where new measures are being developed. This will be kept as a live document during the first river basin planning cycle.

The organisations that are part of the West Highland Area Advisory Group helped to develop this plan. They are responsible for sharing the information contained in this plan with a wider range of stakeholders to encourage them to implement the actions required in the West Highland advisory group area. SEPA’s role in the development of the plan has been to provide information, particularly with regard to classification, and to co-ordinate information and input from others. In this document ‘we’ refers to all those involved in the production of this plan, not just SEPA.

A wider forum has also been established. The forum is open to the public and provides an opportunity for a wider group of stakeholders to be involved in planning developments.