The number of beavers has more than doubled in Scotland in the last three years to around 1000 animals, according to a NatureScot survey published today. The new population survey has not only found that beaver numbers have increased, but that the population is in a rapid expansion phase as beavers spread out from Tayside, […]
BBC ‘Shell and Scottish Power join bid to build floating wind farms Energy giant Shell has teamed up with Scottish Power to bid to develop large floating wind farms off the coast of north east Scotland. They will bid jointly in an auction of 15 seabed locations for the next generation of wind farms. The […]
NatureScot has published the results of the fifth full census of Scotland’s harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) over the last 25 years which reveals Scotland’s harbour seals are doing well overall but there remains a striking divide between east and west coast populations. Estimates based on these surveys undertaken by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) […]
Marine Scotland has launched a campaign to help raise awareness of American lobster (Homarus americanus) in Scotland. Native to the east coast of the northern USA and Canada, American lobsters have been imported live into Europe for several decades resulting in their escape into the wild, first recorded in the UK in 1988. Every year […]
A series of emails, released under the Freedom of Information Act, and reported by investigative news site, The Ferret, in March suggest the Scottish government appears to be smoothing the path for CleanTreat – a system that uses the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid to rid farmed salmon of sea lice, to be accepted for regulatory approval in […]
Feeding cows seaweed could cut their methane emissions by 82%, scientists say. Researchers found cows belched out 82% less methane after putting small amount of seaweed in their feed for five months. Cows produce methane via microbes in their stomachs as they digest their fibrous. Feeding seaweed to cows is a viable long-term method to […]
Scottish Government ‘New measures to help conservation efforts. The critically endangered flapper skate is to gain further protection following the urgent designation of a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the Inner Sound of Skye. The site will protect a nationally important flapper skate egg nursery area, which is the largest of its kind to […]
BBC ‘The Scottish government has lodged an appeal against a ruling requiring it to reconsider the way fisheries should be managed in the seas off Skye. The Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) wants a pilot project to be run which would see no trawling and dredging in some inshore areas. The SCFF went to the […]