Protecting Scottish seas, Ian Dickie joins the Climate Change Committee, Economic insights for Wales' SFS
- eftec
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
In this Month's Newsletter:
£3.6 billion reasons to protect Scotland’s seas from bottom-towed fishing
Protecting marine life pays off for nature, people, and the economy
Ian Dickie joins the Climate Change Committee’s Adaptation Committee
Applying environmental economics for adaptation
Economic insights for Wales’ Sustainable Farming Scheme
About £500 million in annual benefits for nature and communities
Reminder - envecon 2026 Call for Papers & Posters is out – submissions by 1 December 2025
You can find more information, including the submission instructions, here.
£3.6 billion reasons to protect Scotland’s seas from bottom-towed fishing
Protecting marine life pays off for nature, people, and the economy
Bottom trawling and dredging was prohibited in the “three nautical mile limit” (3nm) from the Scottish coast between 1886 and 1984. The ban was repealed in 1984 due to continued pressure from the commercial bottom trawl industry.
Since then, inshore fish stocks have plummeted along with the numbers of active fishermen around its coast. Fishers are having to fish harder for less, as habitats have been reduced to a fraction of their historic extent. A classic tragedy of the commons – overuse has meant there’s less fish for everyone!
Blue Marine Foundation, a member of Our Seas Coalition, commissioned eftec to explore whether controlling the fishing activity will create a more sustainable fishing industry (for static gear sector) as well as other benefits such as enhanced carbon sequestration and ecological gain, despite losses to the bottom-towed sector. Comparing the business-as-usual (with bottom-towed fishing) to a protection (no bottom-towed fishing) scenario within the 3nm area produced the following key results:
£3.6bn net economic benefit over 20 years (a 5-fold increase) after taking account of the loss of fishing income and benefit of improved ecosystem services proved by healthier marine habitats:
257% more protected habitat within 3nm, boosting ecosystem resilience (e.g., from disease and pest control).
Carbon storage doubled in subtidal areas, with further gains likely from vegetated habitats.
50% rise in static gear landings (i.e., catch brought to shore by nets, traps and pots) from areas freed from bottom-towed fishing.
In short, the expected losses in one type of fishing activity as a result of this protection would be offset by the recovery of marine habitats and resulting gains in another fishing activity.
Engaging with winners and losers is crucial to put results like these into action. For more information on this work, visit our website.
Scottish Government is responding to similar studies as this. This month, new fisheries management measures will begin in 20 Offshore MPAs, restricting certain environmentally-damaging fishing methods. This announcement by the Scottish Government follows extensive stakeholder engagement and a public consultation, including past work that eftec and ABPmer did for Scottish Government to measure the economic and social effects of different fishing management strategies. Visit here to see the official announcement.
Ian Dickie joins the Climate Change Committee’s Adaptation Committee
Applying environmental economics for adaptation
We are excited to announce that eftec Director Ian Dickie has joined the Climate Change Committee’s Adaptation Committee. Ian’s appointment will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028, and he will help deliver the Committee’s report on the Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment, progress reports and other specialist advice.
Ian said of his appointment: “It is a pleasure and honour to be joining the Adaptation Committee to help apply environmental economics to the increasing urgent and current challenge of adapting to climate change.
I will contribute to the Committee’s work to consider the full range of adaptation options available to society. It is important to promote both the costs and benefits of acting on adaptation, and identify the potential synergies and trade-offs with other societal challenges. These include achieving net zero, particularly in agricultural and other sectors heavily dependent on natural capital, as well as nature recovery and public health.
I aim to ensure that adaptation options are relevant across the diversity of the UK, from remote rural to inner city communities, and from our seas to our street trees. I will endeavour to build on the advice of my colleague at eftec, Ece Ozdemiroglu, who was a member of the committee for 6 years.”
Economic insights for Wales’ Sustainable Farming Scheme
About £500 million in annual benefits for nature and communities?
Welsh Government have recently launched the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) business case and evidence base. These documents cover the potential economic, environmental and social outcomes of the Scheme. The SFS will be Wales’ new farming scheme to replace Glastir in 2026. The launch of the business case is an important development in the Scheme’s delivery and provides stakeholders an opportunity to see the potential future impacts.
eftec provided the economic appraisal of the Scheme, estimating the future value of carbon, air quality recreation and biodiversity from potential actions taken by farmers (farmer action modelling provided by ADAS). We found that the annualised benefits will be between £226m and £502m and £1,230-£2,200 per hectare depending on the time horizon of the assessment and given the current policy plan. The full benefits report can be found here.
eftec has supported ERAMMP (Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring & Modelling Programme) since 2020. The programme is the evidence backbone of Welsh Government’s land management policies, and is the primary tool used to estimate the potential costs and benefits of the SFS.
Comments