marine tourism

Scotland’s seas need a plan, say MSPs

March 22, 2013

The future of Scotland’s sealife depends on a planning system for the sea, according to a committee of MSPs. In a letter sent to Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Environment and Climate Change on Monday, MSPs on the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee stressed the importance of a coordinated National Marine Plan to ensure the sustainability of offshore development.

The comments on the Scottish Government’s biodiversity strategy, have been welcomed by the members of Scottish Environment LINK, who warn that Scotland’s marine life is under increasing pressure from a range of threats, such as climate change and industrial activities at sea. Scotland’s Marine Atlas, a compendium of scientific knowledge about Scottish seas, documents the worrying declines of many marine species and habitats. … [Continue Reading]

Fair Isle community calls for MPA

March 11, 2013

Orcas visiting the coastal waters of Fair Isle in June 2011

The people of Fair Isle are calling for better protection of their local marine environment. Nick Riddiford, chair of the Fair Isle Marine Environment and Tourism Initiative explains why a Marine Protected Area would help safeguard their sea, and their community.

For the last 24 years the Fair Isle community, concerned at steady and unremitting damage to its marine environment, has been active in trying to reverse the process.

This has culminated in a proposal to the Scottish Government for a Marine Protected Area for Fair Isle waters, submitted to the Government’s Marine Scotland in December 2011. The proposal has the backing of every person on the isle, as a healthy marine environment underpins the social and economic well-being of the isle.

The isle has been occupied continuously for at least 2000 years and archaeological investigations have demonstrated that there were people living here 5000 years ago. Fair Isle is 42 kilometres (28 miles) from the nearest land in any direction. A community would not have survived without using its resources in a sustainable manner. It was not in a position to use up its resources, then go and exploit resources elsewhere. That remains the situation today.

The seas around Fair Isle have always played an essential part in community life and continue to do so. We recognise that safeguarding the resource also safeguards the future of our island. That resource now includes the public, drawn to the isle by its marvellous wildlife, scenery and maritime culture. We owe it to them. We owe it to our children.

In 1995 the community formalised its efforts through the Fair Isle Marine Environment and Tourism Initiative (FIMETI), an initiative led by the islanders in partnership with Fair Isle Bird Observatory and the National Trust for Scotland.

FIMETI, perceiving no action from other bodies, set out to provide a catalyst for urgent progress towards proper, sustainable management of the Fair Isle marine resource. It has engaged in a plethora of activities, including an international sustainable resource management project, the production of a policy report Safeguarding Our Heritage – the Fair Isle Marine Resource, participation in the Scottish Government’s Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI Shetland pilot study) and much more. But it is yet to achieve its primary aim of bringing a sustainable management programme to a resource which the community sees as crucial to its long-term development and well-being.

Despite this lack of achievement, the community identifies a new opportunity with the prospect of a network of Marine Protected Areas in Scottish waters. Fair Isle’s seas remain rich, despite a marine environment subject to continued enormous pressure. In addition, the isle has a series of facilities which would make it an ideal site for a Demonstration and Research MPA. In this way it could act as a pilot site for testing appropriate management measures and provide a model for coastal communities throughout Scotland.

An MPA would also meet the Scottish Government’s obligation within the Council of Europe. Fair Isle has held the Council of Europe Diploma since 1985, one of just two sites in Scotland. In 2010 a condition was signed by the Council’s Committee of Ministers – representing all 47 participating countries – that the Scottish and UK Government’s should use their powers to establish a protected marine area for Fair Isle. If this is not done, Fair Isle will lose its Diploma and Scotland one of its only two sites.

FIMETI remains the community’s voice on the issue. Just about everyone, from school children upwards have been involved in FIMETI activities over the years, including the preparation of the MPA proposal. This is clearly demonstrated in a series of newsletters entitled Making Waves. The latest Making Waves (Issue 10) has just been published. It has been described as “a good read” but also displays the range of maritime activities, and qualities, which makes Fair Isle such a special place. We invite you to read it here

Scotland could avoid a fish fight

March 8, 2013

A campaign like Hugh’s Fish Fight can be avoided in Scotland if Scottish Ministers keep their commitment to strong implementation of the Marine Act, say members of Scottish Environment LINK.

Major concerns about marine protection in England and Wales have been raised by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s ‘Fish Fight’ campaign after initial plans for 127 marine conservation zones were later cut to just 31 sites for public consultation. The UK Government slashed the proposals following arguments over science, sparking around 2,000 people to take part in a rally at Westminster earlier this week calling on the UK Government to be more ambitious.

But the scientific case for an equivalent network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Scotland is strong enough to consult on all 33 Scottish sites … [Continue Reading]

Scottish seabirds crying out for MPAs

December 5, 2012

Scottish MPAs make economic sense too - MASSIVE REDUCTIONS

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Picture by Kaleel Zibe

It’s a slightly scary image: an Arctic tern in full, squawking flight. But it’s not half as scary as the message it carries. For the past 30 years, Scottish populations of Sterna paradisaea have been in free-fall, plummeting by 72% to less than 50,000 breeding pairs.

This is not an isolated story. Other Scottish seabird populations are in an equally worrying state. This year’s count of kittiwake colonies on the Orkney mainland reveals that numbers have fallen by 82% in just 12 years to 1,965 adults.

This not just a major environmental disaster – it’s potentially a profoundly social and economic one too. Parts of Scotland are recognised as world-class sites for bird-watching and people visit in their droves to view seabirds up close in their incredible cliff-side habitats. These welcome wildlife tourists buoy up the local economies of rural villages and towns around Scotland. A recent UK study by the RSPB has explored this secondary, but important, economic value of seabirds. (Local Value of Seabirds, 2012)

Imagine the Camarague without its Greater flamingos. The Shetland Isles without its kittiwakes, Arctic terns, fulmars and Arctic skuas, does not bear thinking about. Scotland’s reputation as a country of amazing natural scenery and wildlife is at stake.

So what have Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) got to do with this? Seabirds face a range of pressures such as food shortages, and the effects of climate change. Although breeding sites of Scottish seabirds are protected in many places, the places where they feed are not given the same attention. Less food at sea, means fewer birds able to breed. It’s simple.

Nature conservation Marine Protected Areas provide the perfect tool to protect and manage these feeding ‘hotspots’ out at sea, but no Scottish seabirds, except black guillemots, are currently included in the Scottish nature conservation MPA process.

RSPB Scotland (a member of Scottish Environment LINK’s marine taskforce that set up the Save Scottish Seas campaign) is calling out on behalf of Scottish seabirds for people to take action. Sign the e-petition here

For more background, read: ‘Protecting Scotland’s seas’

[This post was updated on 16th August 2013]

Whales need help in busy seas

December 4, 2012

Scottish MPAs make economic sense too - GIANT VALUE

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This tail belongs to a Humpback whale. Not a lot of people know it, but these majestic mammals visit Scottish waters every year, as well as over 25 other species of whale and dolphin – from minke whales to harbour porpoises.

And just as the whales and dolphins visit our seas, so do people – who visit our shores and charter boats to watch them.

This wildlife tourism generates substantial value to local economies. Dolphin watching in the Moray Firth, for example, was recently found to be worth more than £4 million each year and generating more than 200 equivalent full-time jobs.

Unfortunately, it’s not a completely pretty picture. Not only are some species of whales and dolphins still recovering from decades of international overfishing, but they continue to struggle in a pressured marine environment too. Strandings resulting from the noise pollution of seismic surveys and unintentional entanglements in fishing nets are just some of the difficulties that whale and dolphin populations face.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) represent a vital method for managing our busy seas and helping to protect our marine wildlife. For those areas that are of vital importance to whale and dolphin populations, MPAs could help to mitigate the impacts of damaging activities. (Read WDC’s ‘All about MPAs for more information). Yet current plans for MPAs by the Scottish Government have not included whales and dolphins (or cetaceans as they are known scientifically) in the MPA network – due to be consulted on in summer 2013.

Whale & Dolphin Conservation, a member of the Save Scottish Seas campaign, is ‘up in arms’ about this. Check out their video and sign the petition. (This petition has since closed: check out how many people signed it….)

Wildlife tourism firms join in plea for protection of Scotland’s seas

August 3, 2012

A NUMBER of Scotland’s leading wildlife tourism businesses are calling on the Scottish Government to do more to protect and restore Scotland’s seas.

Representatives of more than 20 organisations have sent a joint letter to Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Minister for Tourism, highlighting the substantial economic benefits provided by the country’s most fragile ecosystems and demanding the establishment of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along Scotland’s coast.

The full story can be found at: The Scotsman

Save Scottish Seas