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| Windy seas near Skara Brae Orkney |
Norway makes 60% of its wealth from its seas
Scotland’s seas are over 7.5 times Scotland’s land area.
Scotland has 32% of UKs landmass and 62% of UK sea area with over 900 islands. Scotland’s coastline is double England’s. With over 900 islands, Scotland has a coastline which is approximately double that of England.
The Minch water towards the Outer Hebrides are where the Trident submarine patrol. The Scapa flow waters of Orkney is where the British navy were station during the world wars. Scottish waters and rivers host world-famous salmon, langoustines, oysters and lobster. Scotland’s many lochs (over 25,500) and machairs host unique and quality marine life.
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| Seas north coast |
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| west coast seas |
Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world, but among Scotland, England, and Ireland, Scotland has the longest coastline.
Scotland's coastline measures approximately 18,000 km, including its many islands, while England's coastline is around 12,400 km and Ireland's is about 7,500 km.
How big are Scotland’s seas? We estimate the area of Scotland’s seas to be 462,315 km2 using the definition of the “Scottish zone” in the Scotland Act 1998. Scotland’s seas are nearly six times larger than the land area of Scotland. The figure above reflects the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to Scotland, which accounts for 63% of the UK EEZ.
How many islands does Scotland have? Scotland has over 900 islands, of which 118 are inhabited. The most remote Scottish island is Rockall, which is around 300 km from in the St Kilda archipelago.
Scotland’s rivers and streams? Scotland has more than 125,000 km of rivers and streams varying from small highland burns to deep, wide lowland rivers such as the Tay. There is also a 220 km canal network in Scotland. There are over 25,500 lochs in Scotland, with the Western Isles and Sutherland having the highest concentration of lochs. SEPA
Scottish waters are a special place for marine habitats and wildlife, thanks to the combination of:
- our position at the edge of the European continental shelf
- Scotland’s long coastline and large area of sea
- the mixing of warm Gulf Stream currents and cold currents
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| Seas Oban to Castlebay Barra |
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| Ayrshire coastlines |
IslI Islands. Glacial activity created our highly intricate coastline, which includes around 800 islands mostly off the west and north coasts.
Coastal habitats including sand dunes, cliff habitats, saltmarsh and saline lagoon are thus a very big part of the Scottish landscape. Machair is a remarkable living landscape that’s unique to Scotland and Ireland. Scotland’s territorial seas (up to 12 nautical miles from the coast) cover an area greater than the Scottish mainland and islands added together.
Scotland’s inshore and offshore waters combined make up 13% of all European seas and contain a staggering 8,000 species or more.
The area covered by Scotland's seas is $608,000 km 2 from MHWS out to the limit of the claimed UK Continental Shelf. With 8.4% of the UK population, Scotland has 32% of the land mass and 62% of the UK sea area.
