Based on Arran, the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) recognises and values the amazing marine biodiversity right by our shores and the need to protect it for future generations. COAST is the driving force behind Scotland's first No Take Zone, created by law in Lamlash Bay in 2008. A No Take Zone is an area of sea and seabed from which no marine life can be removed by any method allowing the ecosystem the chance to regenerate.

COAST’s vision is to enhance the marine biodiversity in Lamlash Bay and Arran coastal waters by protecting maerl beds and other sea bed habitats in the No Take Zone and through a proposed wider Marine Protected Area.

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A recent government report which reviews the scientific knowledge of the West coast fishery, has lent weight to proposals for an MPA around the southern coast of Arran.

“The West of Scotland Marine Ecosystem: A Review of Scientific Knowledge 2011” carries out a comprehensive review of the West coast. Amongst a range of findings, it describes the importance of the inshore habitat for cod and whiting stocks in the area, by gathering a wide range of data from analogous fisheries in Europe.