RunAgroundHard
Well-known member
... You might be able to manage one harbour master for the whole of Scotland if we could manage with one for the Solent. There might be less marine activity in total.
Impractical for all of Scotland as our coastline waters are larger than Englands, but single harbour masters do exist e.g. Firth fo Fourth. However, like the Solent waters, the Firth fo Clyde also has two harbour masters, and is delineated much like the Solent between commercial and naval operations.
KHM Clyde | Royal Navy
Marine Information | Clydeport | Peel Ports
Also within the FOC CMAL provides harbour masters at some of their ports, so not as straight forward as just a binary authority.
Facts and figures about Scotland's sea area (coastline length, sea area in sq kms) | Marine Scotland Information
The Firth of Forth which covers quite a few ports over a much larger area.
Our Ports | Forth Ports
Then there is the likes of Oban, which is delineated over a very small area between various authorities: CMAL, Northern Light House Board, Regional Council. They are trying to sort this out at the moment and there is a proposal for a single authority.
CMAL, the asset owner of the CALMAC, has Harbour Masters around the West Coast but in some cases, these are supplied by the regional councils.
Clearly, various models exist to manage vessel movements across the UK.