‘The time for over-optimistic industry assessments is over. The time for cherry-picking science is over. The time for short-termist thinking is over. The time for reversing the damage has come.’

This was the message from C.O.A.S.T. chair Howard Wood after reading perhaps the most damning indictment of the state of the Clyde fishery yet. ‘We want to secure the future of the fishing industry both in the Clyde and start learning the lessons that will benefit the whole of Scotland,’ he added.

A new report by scientists from York University documents the chronic decline in the Clyde fishery and points to examples in other fisheries around the world where trawl closures have helped the recovery of fish stocks.

It is now felt imperative by C.O.A.S.T. that there is similar action in Scotland.

In 2008, Scottish environment secretary Mr Richard Lochhead made a commitment to establish a Marine Protected Area alongside the No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay. This was backed up by the First Minister of Scotland, but it has yet to happen.

In the UN year of biodiversity, successive UK and Scottish governments stand accused by some of the world’s leading marine scientists of allowing the Clyde to be on the verge of catastrophic ecological decline due to the pursuit of short term profits and support for the dredging and bottom trawling sector of Clyde fishermen.

C.O.A.S.T. and, we suspect, an overwhelming majority of the electorate would like to see two things happen.

1. the establishment of a Marine Protected Area in the remaining part of Lamlash Bay
2. the reintroduction of the three mile limit throughout the Clyde

‘We ask the Cabinet Secretary to use his powers under the 1984 inshore fisheries Act to stop all methods of mobile, bottom trawling and dredging within 3 miles of the Clyde shoreline,' urges Howard Wood. 'The petition has started, the country will speak and surely our politicians must listen.’

In this month's newsletter...

Sign up - it is time to reverse the damage

Diving after the dredge

COAST diver gets Eyemouth training

Is it time for the MSC to revisit what 'stewardship' really means?

Navigating ‘natural capital’ – a new map for marine management

Devolution demand down to the seabed

Scallop study takes the proverbial

SSC buys West Minch

Marinet's critique of DEFRA's marine policy

Ireland asked to clean up its environmental planning act

Plus 'A Few Fishy Facts' and the 'Fish of the month' - Ballan Wrasse....

Sign up - it is time to reverse the damage

For the large part of the 20th century it was illegal for trawlers to fish within 3 miles of the Clyde shoreline. In 1984 that changed. An area of rich fish nurseries was opened to trawlers and dredgers. Now the publication of a new report by marine scientists Callum Roberts and Ruth Thurstan has portrayed the Clyde as in a dire state of ‘ecological meltdown.’

 
Callum Roberts and Ruth Thurstan

Drawing on Government figures, the report reveals that in 1985, finfish made up over 60% of the landings by weight and 37% by value, compared to just 2% by weight and 0.5% by value in 2008. ‘There can be few better examples than the Clyde of a place where fish stocks have been effectively mined out of existence, and fisheries management has so signally failed to prevent it,’ the report concludes.

The scientific data is complex and drawn from a variety of sources and makes for unsettling reading. Although the conclusions are shared by many fishermen, the findings have been formally dismissed by representatives of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and the Clyde Fishermen’s Association, who argue that ‘stock recovery strategies’ are working and explain the reduced landings.

Local fishermen on the ground however, have expressed a different view. The Dunoon Observer features an in-depth interview with Bill Cameron, who describes first-hand the decline in fish stocks and unsustainable impacts of trawling and dredging.

An urgent debate is finally being aired and C.O.A.S.T. along with Scottish Creelers and Divers (SCAD), the Ayrshire and Clyde Static Gear Fisherman’s Association (ACSGFA) and many Clyde-based community councils have proposed a petition to re-establish the 3 mile limit.

Whether you are a member of a sea angling organisation, an individual angler, or a member of the general public, we ask that you sign our petition which will be handed over at the Scottish Parliament in the near future. Click here for a copy of the petition.

And if you are looking for more information, keep an eye out for the BBC's Panorama TV documentary programme at the end of August.


LOCAL NEWS

Diving after the dredge
Visiting marine biologist Leigh Howarth is currently (July-August 2010) conducting the first diver scallop survey in Lamlash Bay to monitor the health of the scallop population since the introduction of Scotland’s first No Take Zone (NTZ). This will hopefully provide an important baseline for future monitoring of the Lamlash Bay NTZ. Read his account here....

"Preparation for the scallop survey has been hands-on. My first working day began with learning how to operate the dive boats and planning our survey procedures. We have since then been out diving every day, weather permitting of course."

Picture: Scallops  recovered during the dive, left broken after the pass of the dredger.

"My first dive on Arran took place within Lamlash Bay NTZ. It was beautiful. The water was clear and not very cold, around 12°C, and the sealife was abundant. (Click here to read more)


COAST diver gets Eyemouth training
Rescuing ballan wrasses and encountering gully-dwelling squat lobsters has fuelled C.O.A.S.T. diver Claire Youdale’s passion for documenting the diversity of Lamlash Bay. Below is her account of Seasearch survey training at the Marine Quest facilities in Eyemouth.


Claire Youdale prepares for a dive

I recently journeyed to Eyemouth on the East Coast of Scotland,  to take part in a Seasearch Surveyor Course organised and run by Carrie Pillow and Paula Lightfoot of Seasearch North East and Calum Duncan of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

Seasearch is a project for volunteer sport divers to take records of the marine animals and habitats they see, to build of an underwater map of the types of seabed around the UK. This data helps to recognise the richest areas for marine life, sites that need protection and any areas where there are problems, areas like Lamlash Bay with its maerl beds. (Click here to read more)

NATIONAL NEWS

Is it time for the MSC to revisit what 'stewardship' really means?
After some controversial certifications prompted C.O.A.S.T. to explore MSC activity around the world, concerns have emerged about certification standards, ecological systems safeguards and the opaque relationships between certifiers and fisheries. C.O.A.S.T. has since taken a look at MSC involvement in Scotland and it has been an interesting project, as our vice-chair Dr. Sally Campbell explains... (Click here to read C.O.A.S.T.'s special report).


Navigating ‘natural capital’ – a new map for marine management
It’s as complex as the sea itself - learning how to manage sustainably the valuable and varied marine resource of our coastline and seas. But that is just what the Crown Estate is trying to do in a forthcoming report. Here, C.O.A.S.T. supporter Dr John M. Campbell presents a thoughtful appraisal of their work-in-progress. He highlights the fundamental need to re-invent the very methodology of economics itself – by focusing less on the exploitation of assets and more on the flows, natural benefits and structural limitations of the underlying ecosystems that generate the value in the first place. For an insight into this frame-shift in thinking that is taking place, read on....



'Re-inventing economics methodology to value marine ecosystems - a review of the Crown Estate report ‘Valuing the Marine Estate and UK Seas’

Imagine a situation where the natural resources of our coastal waters are subject to evaluation in a sustainable way for the future benefit of the country as a whole. The Crown Estate has commissioned a consortium of consultants specialising in marine economics to come up with a methodology for doing just that. But it is not that simple. Two fundamental issues stand in the way, the perceived universal right... (Click here for the full article).

Devolution demand down to the seabed



Scotland’s environment secretary Richard Lochhead has made a long overdue case for bringing greater democracy to Scotland’s seabed. Marine management is currently a legislative area devolved to the Scottish Parliament, yet decisions affecting the seabed remain the preserve of the Crown Estate. Lochhead drew diplomatically short of criticising the intrinsic shortfalls in accountability of the Crown Estate, but suggested that the current arrangement is 'out of step' and implored the new Tory/Lib coalition to ‘fully adapt to the post-devolution era, with greater transparency and accountability for their activities north of the border.’

Lochhead's statement received some hungry media attention... Lochhead goes after the Crown Estate (ForArgyll)
Lochhead targets Crown Estate (Shetland Marine News)
Ministers in bid to reap the benefits from crown's Scottish estate profits (The Scotsman)
Scots ministers brand Crown Estate 'unnaccountable' (PublicProperty.com)


Scallop study takes the proverbial
While the Scottish economy faces severe public sector cutbacks Marine Scotland has decided to spend taxpayers’ money on a scientific study into scallop dredge damage. Progressive thinking some might say, but the damage caused by dredgers to hard ground has already been proven for decades in experiments and studies conducted all around the world. Why this has been commissioned is anyone's guess...

There is a fair amount of movement in the fisheries research and technical sector, with advertisement for a
Fisheries Socio-Economist based in the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen and Marine Scotland tenders for research into the poorly understood ling fishery and a new electronic monitoring system pilot.


SSC buys West Minch
Scottish aquaculture was subject to further industry consolidation as fish farm business West Minch was bought up by the Scottish Salmon Company. Because West Minch will retain its brand name, it’s a move that would easily pass the casual consumer by. But what will change is scale, as the newly-acquired operation expects to increase production to around 7,000 metric tons, up from 1,800 metric tons today. Half of all West Minch's current produce is sold on the continent, including strong organic markets such as Germany and France.

It is just the latest shuffling of the pack in the global fish farm industry. The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), listed on the Oslo stock exchange, has only recently taken over its parent company Lighthouse Caledonia, in what was yet another emergency restructuring exercise by the former subsidiary of Marine Harvest.


OVERSEAS NEWS

Marinet's critique of DEFRA's marine policy



The Chair of marine campaign group Marinet has levelled a no-nonsense and principled critique of the latest UK government plans to safeguard our seas. David Levy has accused government of being slow to lead and described elements of DEFRA’s current marine management strategy, outlined in Charting Progress 2, as a ‘fraudulent distortion of reality.’ He makes a particular reference to the ‘top-heavy’ and ‘back-to-front’ approach of MCZ identification groups, which are not responding as originally tasked to identify the scientific criteria for where MCZs should be created.’ For a full transcript of the letter click here. It makes for interesting reading for anyone concerned about the democracy of marine management.


Ireland asked to clean up its environmental planning act
The European Commission is finally losing patience with Ireland’s approach to environmental planning and is now threatening fines unless the Emerald Isle’s procedures are tightened up. Ireland’s failure to adhere to the safeguards of the Environment Impact Assessment Directive has been demonstrated in recent fish farm developments which have been authorised without considering criteria set out in the Directive.


A FEW FISHY FACTS FOLKS SHOULD KNOW

- the longer a fish lives, the more fertile it becomes (lays an increase number of eggs)
- Between 1998 and 2006, the tonnage of fish and shellfish from UK seas landed in the UK and abroad fell from 900,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes
- A recent UK government report has said global warming contributed to a 9% decline in the number of seabirds breeding in the UK between 2000 and 2008 and a drop in their breeding success
- an endangered species of shrimp Triops cancriformis (found recently on the Solway coast) is perhaps the 'world's oldest surviving animal' according to fossil research


FISH OF THE MONTH
This month's fish of the month is the amazing hermaphroditic Ballan Wrasse. With a stout body, spiny dorsal fin and beautiful mottled colouration, all Ballans are born female. But when they mature at 6-9 years, they become male. Perhaps, it's a good job they inhabit the more protected and rocky inshore areas of our seas or few fish would be escaping the bottom trawls and making it to maturity. They lead quite solitary lives, scavenging food and preying on crabs scuttling around the seabed. Ballans can live to 25 years or more.


Scientific name: Labrus Bergylta
Normal size: up to 60cm
Weight: up to 3.4kg
Diet: Feeds offshore from March to June, but its diet mainly comprises of molluscs and crustaceans, such as limpets, crabs and squat lobsters which are crushed in its small but tough mouth. Young Ballan Wrasse act as cleaner fish, feeding on the parasites of larger fish species.
Habitat: Ballans are non-migratory residents of the sea, living at 10m-30m deep in rocky or weedy areas all around the British coast, although they are less common in the southern parts of the North Sea.


THANKS
If you have enjoyed reading this newsletter and feel supportive of C.O.A.S.T.’s work, please get in touch. Like all community organisations, we are run by a small group of dedicated volunteers. If you would like to offer any financial support, you can donate via the website. Alternatively feel free to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thank you for reading COAST’s fifth newsletter. We hope you are looking forward to the next month’s edition already.

Coming in the next newsletter:
- Mounting media interest puts the Clyde in an uncomfortable limelight
- an update on the 3-mile petition