Historic Marine Protected Areas: An Integrated Approach to the Protection of Marine Historic Assets in Scotland

Cultural heritage has traditionally been treated separately from ecosystem-based marine environmental protection. The introduction in Scotland of Historic Marine Protected Areas to preserve nationally important marine historic assets has integrated cultural heritage protection within a unified Marine Protected Area framework. The paper outlines the policy development and legislative process leading to the designation, evaluates its application since 2010 and discusses lessons learned, ongoing challenges and future opportunities for more holistic marine environmental management.