The sea. Perhaps it’s the juxtaposition between its great power and its unequivocal beauty, but there is something about the sea that captivates the mind. Or at least my mind. It is full of special places, which are home to the most amazing variety of creatures, perfectly adapted to their environment. It also offers great experiences. Gannets plunging into the waves as they hunt for fish-an amazing sight that can be viewed from Edinburgh’s coastal areas-with a huge colony on the Bass Rock.
Protecting these special places is at the heart of what RSPB Scotland aims to do. For me the marine environment is the most intriguing and interesting area of our work. Our knowledge of marine wildlife and the interactions between man’s use of, and impact on marine habitats is growing all the time.
One of the most important places in Scottish waters lies in the east, a few miles off the coast of Edinburgh. The Firth of Forth Banks Complex is an offshore group of sandbanks which are important spawning grounds for the lesser sandeel.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the lesser sandeel (Ammodytes marinus), it’s a small, silver fish which lives in the cold waters of the north Atlantic and is a very important source of food for seabirds (sandeels make up 90% of a kittiwake’s diet) and other marine species like dolphins and porpoises. As well as pelagic fish of high commercial value.
The Firth of Forth is special because the sandeels that spawn there between January and March populate the whole of the southern part of the North Sea. Sandeels are a keystone species in Scotland’s marine environment and without the spawning grounds of the Firth of Forth the huge seabird colonies around the east coast could not be supported.
As this area is so important, it has been proposed by the Scottish Government as a Marine Protected Area (MPA), although, bizarrely, it has not been proposed to protect sandeels despite the wealth of evidence to show how important the area is for this species. So why is the Firth of Forth not being designated for sandeels? The proposed MPA overlaps with an area licensed for a windfarm development and the developers, fearful for their investment, have said in their MPA consultation response that they don’t want the site to be protected at all. If I was a windfarm developer I might think the same, but I’m not, I am interested in protecting the environment and making sure that the best marine sites are protected, now and in the future.
The Marine (Scotland) Act, which gave the Scottish Government power to create MPAs, was also meant to put in place a plan which would allow marine industries to develop within the confines of the environment, and reverse the damage inflicted by years of under-regulated industry at sea. Sustainability and the health of our seas was at the core of the legislation, which is why we praised it.
Very soon the Scottish Government will have to make a decision on whether or not to designate the Firth of Forth MPA. They have two choices, 1) They follow the advice of their scientific advisers, stay true to their own guiding principles on MPA selection and designate the MPA or, 2) they ignore science and make a mockery of a process which has taken over a decade to get to this stage.
Here at RSPB Scotland we feel passionately about nature and hold our values as a totem of our integrity. We use science to inform our policy, even when that means we have to take tough decisions. It’s not always an easy road to travel but it’s the road we are morally obliged to take. I hope the Scottish Government feels the same way and makes the right decision by designating the Firth of Forth MPA for sandeels, and by ensuring this essential resource is protected for the future.