PLANS by ministers to ensure sustainable use of the seas around Scotland have been welcomed by environmentalists but the RSPB still has concerns.
This week it published figures of decline among some seabird populations of up to 87%, and says Scottish Government proposals for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will do nothing for most of Scotland's seabirds.
The MPAs are one element in the joint marine consultation launched by the Scottish Government. It will help decide how Scotland's seas are best managed to ensure that the likes of fishing can co-exist with the development of offshore renewable energy projects, while protecting marine species and habitats.
It includes Scotland's first National Marine Plan for a single framework to manage all activity in Scottish waters, clarifying priorities for developers and decision makers. Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas and Sectoral Marine Plans for Renewable Energy are also proposed.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said the consultation was vitally important.
But Lloyd Austin, head of conservation policy at RSPB Scotland, urged the Scottish Government to designate MPAs for seabirds at sea.
Calum Duncan, convenor of Scottish Environment LINK's marine taskforce, was more positive, saying: "These proposals represent a historic opportunity for us to manage the marine environment in a new way."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article