Abstract
The UK Offshore Regulations General Implementation report for 2019–2024 is the first report under Regulation 6A of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended). The report has a separate Technical Annex, and supporting information in the form of feature reports for Offshore Habitats, Non-bird species, and Birds. To support transparency and accountability, Offshore Regulation 6A requires a report every six years on the on the status of resident Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species, and all relevant wild bird species.
The UK offshore marine area extends beyond 12 nautical miles from the shore and covers 72.2 million hectares of the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone and the UK continental shelf. The Offshore Report supports equivalent reporting for nationally important habitats and species within terrestrial and inshore areas, under the Habitats Regulations. Habitats Regulations reports for the period 2019–2024 were published in January 2026, separately for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
These Offshore Regulations feature reports detail the information gathered for assessing the status of resident Annex I habitats, Annex II, IV & V species in the UK offshore marine area. This includes: 3 marine habitats, 17 marine mammal species, 1 species of marine turtle, and 15 bird species.
Habitats and Non-bird Species feature reports:
Individual feature PDF reports can be found for all resident Habitat and Non-bird species included in the Offshore report. These PDFs contain all the information gathered in the offshore reporting process, including conservation status assessment outcomes, and detail of component parameters (range, area, population, habitat for species, habitat structure and function, and future prospects based on known pressures and conservation measures).
This information is also shared in two Excel files, one for all Habitats ('UK Offshore marine habitats data for reporting period 2019–2024') and one for Non-bird species ('UK Offshore marine species data for reporting period 2019–2024').
The habitats and species included are:
3 marine habitats: Sandbanks which are slightly covered by seawater at all times, Reefs, Submarine structures made by leaking gases).
17 marine mammal species: Bottlenose Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin (coastal), Common Dolphin, Harbour Porpoise, Grey Seal, Common Seal, Killer Whale, Long-finned Pilot Whale, Risso’s Dolphin, Atlantic White-sided Dolphin, White-beaked Dolphin, Minke Whale, Fin Whale, Sperm Whale, Humpback Whale, Striped Dolphin, Beaked Whales.
1 species of marine turtle: Leatherback Turtle.
Bird species feature report
A single PDF report provides a summary of reporting for all marine bird species included in the Offshore report ('Conservation status assessment for Marine Birds: UK Offshore'). This PDF includes summaries of change in conservation status and extinction risk, population, breeding distribution, pressures, conservation measures, species actions plans and projects. The information used in this summary is shared in an Excel file ('UK Offshore marine birds data for reporting period 2019–2024').
This report includes information on the following 15 Bird species: Atlantic Puffin, Black-legged Kittiwake, Common Guillemot, European Storm-petrel, Fulmar, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Skua, Herring Gull, Leach's Storm-petrel, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Auk, Manx Shearwater, Northern Gannet, Parasitic Jaeger (Arctic Skua), Razorbill.
Additional supporting information on the Bird species included in both the reporting under the Offshore Regulations and the Habitat Regulations can be found in the Habitats Regulations Reporting 2019–2024: Supporting information (Birds) resources.
For further information, visit the Habitats Regulations Reporting for the period 2019 to 2024 webpage.
These resources may not be fully accessible for all users. If you need copies in a different or more accessible format, please contact Communications@jncc.gov.uk.
