A Scotland-wide coalition has branded the Scottish Government’s decision to further delay marine protection as woefully inadequate, and lacking in urgency and vision for Scotland’s seas.
Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy Gillian Martin has today confirmed that an expected consultation about how to protect some areas of Scotland’s seabed has been postponed until after the Holyrood elections: meaning that no decisions, let alone action, to protect already-identified critical ecosystems will be taken until at least the second half of 2026, eleven years after Ministers made the original commitment.
Existing marine protected areas, already designated by the Scottish Government and ‘Priority Marine Features’ (remnant sites of seabed ecosystems, which also act as crucial fish nurseries) they have identified and adopted will still be ravaged by damaging fishing methods such as bottom trawling and dredging, whilst politicians concentrate instead on re-election.
Alex Watson Crook, interim chair of the Our Seas Coalition campaign group, said:
“It is gutting to see the Scottish Government delay, yet again, measures that might start to give Scottish seas the protection they so desperately need, and that it has a duty to enact. What we need from the Government is not endless delay and can-kicking but strong and visionary action to protect the sites it has already acknowledged are worth protecting. Scotland’s seas are amazing. We have globally-significant marine wildlife; centuries of fishing are woven into our collective national story, and; we have coastal communities around the country that depend on healthy seas. Unfortunately this smacks more of political cowardice than the leadership Scotland’s seas, and our coastal communities, deserve.”
Bally Philp, coordinator of the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) said:
“Scotland’s inshore seas are in crisis, yet the Government keeps kicking essential protections into the long grass. After more than a decade of delays, our inshore ecosystems are deteriorating, our small-scale fishing sector is shrinking, and coastal communities are being pushed to the edge. Every further delay makes recovery harder and threatens the very future of low-impact fishers who rely on healthy inshore waters. Inaction isn’t neutral anymore, it’s actively accelerating the decline of our marine environment and the livelihoods tied to it.”
Janis Piggott, on behalf of Ullapool Sea Savers said:
“Our question to the Scottish Government is – where is the urgency to protect Scotland’s marine life, and the future for coastal communities? We were already assuming the expected consultation wouldn’t go nearly far enough, but now it doesn’t even try to go fast enough either. Designating marine protected areas, but taking no action does nothing – and it certainly doesn’t allow seabed ecosystems to recover. We will be making sure our members ask every politician on the campaign trail how they intend to do better and give our seas, and our future, proper protection.”
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