COAST ‘Protection agency set to approve salmon farm expansion in Arran’s MPA: West coast communities fighting for more say in MPA management   ‘The Scottish Salmon Company might sound like a purveyor of wild salmon owned and run by our fellow Scots. But unfortunately, this is not the case. As many west coast communities know to their cost, the SSC is in fact a large internationally-based corporation aiming to increase the number and capacity of fish farms in Scottish waters – whether or not communities want them. Many do not. COAST does not oppose on-shore contained fish farming but believes, with good reason, that net cage farming is detrimental to wild salmon and other marine life. It is therefore regrettable that, once again, the people of Arran are having to devote scarce resources to fighting off a proposed expansion of net cage salmon farming in Lamlash Bay. This expansion is within a stone’s throw of the No Take Zone and in the recently designated South Arran Marine Protected Area. It is clearly not compatible with the conservation and restoration status of priority marine features in the MPA, such as the nearby recovering maerl beds and seagrass meadows. Despite this, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) seems to be under pressure from commercial interests to give its approval.

This is short-sighted and must not be allowed to happen. We are asking the new Cabinet Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, to ‘call in’ this application and reject it on environmental grounds. Scotland’s hard-won MPA network must not become an easy option for fish farms. It is vital that MPAs such as Arran’s are not put under further pressure. There are far more sustainable and creative ways in which we can benefit economically from our MPAs. Communities need to be able to focus on these and not have to take action against those who would seek to undermine Scotland’s MPAs before they have had a chance to flourish.

’ The Scottish Salmon Think Tank has an excellent and very readable web site on this topic.

The worst marine site in Europe for the safety of dolphins, has been chosen for the planned transfer of up to nine million tonnes of crude oil a year between tankers, according to an expert.

The Herald Scotland ‘The Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s (CPFA) has applied for a licence to conduct transfers in an area of sea at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth just into the larger Moray Firth. A packed meeting in Cromarty this week included representatives from coastal communities right round the area. They heard that campaign group ‘Cromarty Rising’, is preparing to go to court if the Southampton-based Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) approves the application.

Marine biologist Professor Paul Thompson has been leading dolphin research at Aberdeen University’s Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty for over 25 years. He said: “If you were trying to find a place in Europe that posed the maximum risk to a protected dolphin population, this would probably be it. It is one of the most predictable place bottlenose dolphins will visit in Europe, and they occur here throughout the year. Most of the North Sea’s bottlenose dolphins occur on the East coast of Scotland, and there are days when 25 per cent of this population could be within a few miles of that site.” Up to 180,000 tonnes of oil would be transferred at time. Professor Thompson said that in the event of an oil spill, it could not be assumed that dolphins, seals, porpoises or any other marine mammals or wildlife would simply swim away. There was no recognised research evidence they would. Click here to read more.