COAST gave a presentation to the Committee of MSPs at the Auchrannie Hotel.
This was followed by a field trip round Lamlash Bay courtesy of Arran Adventure in one of their large RIBS.
COAST chairman Don MacNeish explained about the proposed trial M.P.A. & No Take Zone. The MSPs were able to see live Maerl samples from the area of pristine Maerl beds at Clauchlands, brought up from the seabed by COAST diver Howard Wood.
After spending an hour in the bay the MSPs returned to the Auchrannie Hotel to view the first cut of a film, which COAST have been producing this summer with the help of Doug Anderson. The first half of the film features underwater shots of the marine life in the bay, followed by interviews with past & present fishermen, SNH, & marine scientists.
The visit to Arran by the E&RD Committee follows several years of intensive campaigning by the COAST campaigners. In December 2004, the campaigners lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee. The petition made such an impact with the Committee that it was passed to the E&RD Committee and will now be formally discussed at its next meeting.
The E&RD Committee’s visit to Arran marks a major step forward in the COAST campaign, which has had to fight in recent years to be heard by Ministers and civil servants.
Don Macneish, one of the COAST campaigners, said, “This visit by the E&RD Committee is a excellent opportunity for our community campaign and we’d like to thank the Committee members for coming here to see Lamlash Bay first-hand. The Committee has the power to make the Minister and his civil servants engage with us properly, openly and reasonably, and we hope we can make a compelling enough case that they will do just that.”
COAST believe there are strong ecological and economic arguments for restricting fishing activity in a small area of Lamlash Bay, while retaining the status quo elsewhere.
Don Macneish continued, “We are only asking for a very small area to be protected for just ten years, as a ‘trial’, to see how much of a positive effect it has. It is within the remit of the Minister and his civil servants to establish the ‘No Take Zone’, and we have overwhelming community and political support for it. We hope that the E&RD Committee will help us apply pressure on the Minister and his civil servants to protect our local environment and ensure the future health and wealth of our local seas.”
The visit to the Island was covered in the BBC Scottish news & some of the national papers.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5300264.stm >