Commercial fisheries play a vital role in the economic landscape of Shetland, Scotland, and the broader United Kingdom. Not only a significant contributor to Shetland’s economy, providing jobs and supporting local businesses, fishing is intertwined with the identity and heritage of the Shetland community.

Globally, the reality of climate change is causing widespread and unprecedented changes to the earth’s climate system. These changes pose deep risks to the environment, human health, economies and more. In response to the international Paris Agreement, Scotland is targeting net zero emissions by 2045. This includes an ambitious offshore wind capacity goal of 11 gigawatts by 2030. The UK has also set a target to fully decarbonise the electricity industry by 2035. Right now, offshore capacity in Scotland is just over two gigawatts – making the expansion of offshore wind a significant priority.

As we strive to meet these ambitious targets and sustain our existing industries, ensuring offshore wind farms and commercial fisheries can coexist is vital. Achieving this balance is essential to fostering sustainable development and future economic growth.

Balancing global demands with local priorities

Arven’s commitment to collaboration and proactive engagement with the fishing industrymarks a positive intention to balance global climate demands with Shetland’s long-term priorities.

Concern from the fishing industry regarding the impact of offshore wind farm development on their activities is understandable. As we move forward with the proposed Arven project, it’s crucial to acknowledge the vital role the marine environment plays in supporting local economies and cultural traditions.

We’re working hard to establish relationships with the fishing industry, meeting with local groups and individuals as well as national fishing organisations to share data and provide project insights and updates. We meet regularly with the NE1 Fishing Forum, a group established in 2023, comprised of NE1 offshore wind farm developers and local and national fishing industry representatives. We see this as a vital forum for discussion. We are grateful for the fishing industry’s feedback to date and will work with fishing representativesthroughout the process of developing, building and operating our offshore wind farm.

Our project is in the very early stages of planning and the specifics of how co-existence can be best achieved are still being explored. One way in which this will happen is the formal commercial fisheries Environmental Impact Assessment process, which is part of the project consent application.

We held our first formal consultation event for the offshore elements of the project earlier this year and it provided a platform for open communication with our key stakeholders. If you didn’t get the chance to make it along, you can still view the virtual consultation.

Arven aims to establish a foundation of trust and mutual understanding. This ensures stakeholders can understand Arven’s goals and, in turn, allows us to address concerns raised by the fishing industry. Dialogue is led by our Fisheries Manager, Iain McMyn. We’re also in the process of appointing a Company Fisheries Liaison Officer to support in day-to-day engagement with the fishing industry.

Looking ahead

Alongside collaborative planning with commercial fisheries, we’re actively working to understand the capabilities of Shetland’s supply-chain to support the project. Local businesses can register interest in becoming a supplier to Arven to inform our development plans.

Marine users in the area can contact us easily by email at arvenmarineusers@mainstreamrp.com for all marine-related inquiries.