12 Nov 2024
Scotland adopted its first National Marine Plan in 2015, with the aim of helping to manage the use of Scotland’s seas in a sustainable way. In 2022 work began to create an updated national marine plan, to better reflect how the sea is currently being used, and to plan for its continued and sustainable future […]
06 Nov 2024
An ambitious new conservation project that will create and restore river woodlands across Scotland is now underway, thanks to funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Riverwoods Blueprint Project is being led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, alongside partners Fisheries Management Scotland, Woodland Trust Scotland, Tweed Forum, Kyle of Sutherland Rivers Trust, Spey Catchment […]
07 Oct 2024
Plans for giant floating wind farms in Scotland threaten to destroy the country’s fishing sector, the leader of an industry body has warned. The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) said despite efforts to find a solution to the problem, mobile fishing and floating offshore wind farms “are simply not able to co-exist”. Speaking at the SFF’s […]
02 Oct 2024
The Scottish Government has published the Climate change: Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029 The plan sets out a comprehensive suite of more than 200 actions and proposals for managing the current and future impacts of climate change in Scotland. Climate change means Scotland will experience more extreme weather. Flooding, water scarcity and hot weather can […]
24 Sep 2024
Plans to extend Scotland’s marine planning zones have been put out to public consultation for a total of 12 weeks. Extending local authority responsibilities Fish and shellfish farms require planning permission out to twelve nautical miles, however local authority responsibilities for planning controls currently only extend to three nautical miles. Under new proposals, the marine […]
17 Sep 2024
A trial on electrofishing for razor clams, launched in February 2018, is delivering promising results as it continues through January 2025. Led by the Science, Evidence, Data and Digital portfolio of the Marine Directorate, the trial aims to gather local level data on razor clam populations, assess sustainable harvesting methods, and evaluate the impact of […]
12 Sep 2024
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) has published a new report which finds that action needs to be taken to improve monitoring, regulatory guidance and the operation of storm overflows in Scotland. The report ‘Storm overflows: an assessment of spills, their impact on the water environment and the effectiveness of legislation and policy’ sets out that: there […]
10 Sep 2024
Marine conservation and education charity, the Scottish Seabird Centre, based in East Lothian, was thrilled to receive a grant of £249,685 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund earlier this year. The funding has been awarded to improve the overall sustainability of the Charity’s operations, develop partnerships with business and to better steward and grow its […]
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