Last month, C.O.A.S.T. carried out one of its key missions – to spread a growing confidence that networked, on-the-ground action can build a more sustainable marine policy for Scotland’s seas.

C.O.A.S.T.’s first ever Symposium, held in October in the Arran Outdoor Centre overlooking the No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay, hosted 40 specialists from all fields of marine policy and science. The result was an inspiring gathering.

Discussions and knowledge sharing were focused, strategic and constructive. This was not a woolly exercise in collective back-patting, but a continued mobilization of people committed to securing marine resources for the future.

New inter-organisational links were forged and presentations of emerging science and community experiences surrounding marine conservation were delivered as a reference bank for future action.

The feedback from the Symposium has already been encouraging - and C.O.A.S.T. knows how important this is. Rewind six years when we were awarded a small grant of £5,000 from Esmee Fairbairn to promote the marine ecosystem importance of Lamlash Bay and fund dialogue with fishermen and stakeholders. Along with 20 other beneficiary projects, C.O.A.S.T. attended that initial funding meeting in 2004 nervous that its contribution to marine sustainability was small fry compared to the efforts of larger beneficiaries such as SNH and the Millport Marine Biological Station. By the end of the day, C.O.A.S.T. felt energized. We realized that our on-the-ground action was vital to effecting the necessary change around our coastal communities. Much of what we have achieved so far would not have been possible without that support, encouragement and wider vision.

It seems that the recent Symposium has focused an urgent and positive sense of purpose. And we hope that the movement towards better marine management in Scotland gains momentum as the experiences and ideas spread up and down this country’s coastal towns and villages.

(Thanks again to all who attended and the many folks at the NAC Arran Outdoor Centre that made it possible).

For more details and much more read this month's newsletter....

Coastal Communities Symposium an outstanding success
Early signs of recovery
Marine Scotland Compliance investigate another alleged incursion into No Take Zone
Manx-Scot scallop spat is a national cheek, says C.O.A.S.T.
Sea angling charity wins award
Scottish Fishermen’s mission centres to close
£10.9m in subsidies but at what cost?
Native eels vs invasive crayfish
New deep sea fish discovered
Largest NTZ established
Making MPAs - fair consultation essential

Coastal Communities Symposium an outstanding success
 
Delegates included representatives from Marine Scotland and many community groups

40 delegates from a wide range of specialisms gathered for C.O.A.S.T.'s recent Symposium at the Arran Outdoor Centre. The event hosted well-focused presentations and wide ranging discussions on conserving the natural wonders of our coastal seas and securing sustainable marine resources for the future. Seven sessions ranged from geographical descriptions of existing sites and areas of protection around the UK coastline to the science and understanding of marine ecology, governance of marine reserves, community engagement and the political challenges of moving to a more sustainable approach.  And with local members of both the Holyrood and Westminster Parliaments attending the event, there was a real sense that discussions were on the political pulse. Click here for a full report and complete access to the many presentations delivered during the three day Symposium.


LOCAL NEWS

Early signs of recovery
Preliminary evidence that Scotland’s first No Take Zone is helping to regenerate the Clyde’s marine ecosystem has been welcomed with cautious optimism. The 2010 summer study of scallop populations by marine biologist Leigh Howarth found that the abundance of juvenile scallops was greater within the NTZ than in surrounding waters. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the science and link to the paper in full.

C.O.A.S.T. features in BBC's Making Scotland's Landscapes
 
Iain Stewart interviews Howard on Clauchland's shoreline

The history and future of the Clyde will feature in a major new season of BBC Scotland programmes which explore beneath the surface of Scotland’s ‘natural beauty’. Makers of the BBC One series Making Scotland's Landscape visited the Lamlash Bay No Take Zone and interviewed C.O.A.S.T. to gather material for an episode which focuses on the sea. The already popular series started on BBC One Scotland last month with a fascinating sweep of the long history of Scottish forests. On Sunday November 7th C.O.A.S.T will feature in what promises to be a fresh perspective on the history and future of Scotland's seas. The programme also uses some of C.O.A.S.T.'s spectacular underwater archive film footage. Click here for more background.

Marine Scotland Compliance investigate another alleged incursion into No Take Zone
Officers from Marine Scotland Compliance (formerly SFPA) were on the island last week to interview Lamlash residents who witnessed a scallop dredger on Thursday 21st October. The dredger appeared to make a strange detour from his route, allegedly entering the NTZ whilst turning before heading out of the bay. We do not want to prejudice any investigation but this is the fourth time locals have witnessed similar events since the NTZ came into being in September 2008.

As the Clyde becomes even more denuded of any fish and shellfish stocks, the NTZ slowly builds up healthier stocks of scallops. But C.O.A.S.T. asks whether Environment minister Richard Lochhead will approve the most obvious safety measure of a ‘no dredge and trawl’ area either side of the NTZ. C.O.A.S.T. argues that establishing a no-mobile Marine Protected Area surrounding the NTZ would create an unambiguous and vital buffer zone that would be much easier to enforce. It is a strategy commonly used all around the world and this simple regulatory step, similar to what was in the COAST proposal in 2005, seems like common sense to the public.

NATIONAL NEWS

Manx-Scot scallop spat is a national cheek, says C.O.A.S.T.

A bye-law has been introduced by the Isle of Man government to protect local scallop stocks around the Island. The move has enraged Scottish fishermen and their lobby group representatives, as it excludes larger vessels and therefore a significant proportion of the Scottish dredging fleet, which raked in catches worth around £750,000 in 2009. However, the Manx minister with responsibility for fisheries John Shimmin says the measure was necessary to ensure the sustainability of the island’s fishing industry. Click here for C.O.A.S.T.'s alternative view on the issue....

Sea angling charity wins award
 
SSACN team work hard to promote a simple message

The Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN - www.ssacn.org) has won the Dreamstore Active Conservation Award for the vital conservation work undertaken by its many members. Over recent years SSACN has worked hard to increase public awareness of the urgent need for the conservation of inshore fish stocks in Scottish waters.  The campaign group’s contribution to public policy development was applauded by Dreamstore’s David Hoey who described the independent Charity as an “exemplary example of the power of harnessing voluntary endeavour in conservation.” Click here to read more.

Scottish Fishermen’s mission centres to close

Five Fishermen's Missions buildings at ports around Scotland are set to close in their present form, although pastoral and welfare services will continue. Missions in Eyemouth, Fraserburgh, Mallaig, Peterhead and Scrabster will close in five years time as part of a financial rethink by the charity. The buildings have provided support and welfare particularly in times of tragedy, but the charity’s chief Dan Conley said that the facilities are under-used and the money can be better spent on providing emergency support for fishermen and their families when serious incidents occur.

£10.9m in subsidies but at what cost?
Scotland's fisheries have recently received £10.9 million in cash grants from the European Fisheries Fund. 144 companies from across the Scottish fishing, processing and aquaculture sectors were awarded grants. But wiith Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead 'encouraged by the number and diversity of the applications,’ it is not clear just how it ties in with marine policy.

The two biggest beneficiaries by far were from the aquaculture sector. Lighthouse Caledonia, is in line to receive £0.75m and Hjatland Hatcheries will get a cash injection of £1m. With coalitions the other side of the Atlantic now calling for on-land closed containment fish-farms, it remains to be seen how progressive this financial support for an already controversially regulated sector will be.

European eels vs invasive crayfish
 vs
European eels may be reintroduced to curb the booming population of invasive crayfish which have decimated fish stocks in Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway. The proliferation and potential spread of American signal crayfish threatens the ecological balance of the loch and even jeopardises a major hydropower development on the River Dee. The critically-endangered European eel preys on the crayfish and its introduction is the latest idea to resolve the problem. Click here to find out more...


OVERSEAS NEWS

New deep sea fish discovered
A new species of snailfish was discovered in one of the world’s deepest ocean trenches previously thought to contain no fish. Images of the creature in the Peru-Chile trench in the south-east Pacific Ocean were captured at depths of 7,000m. The study, led by Scottish biologist Dr Alan Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen, involved a three-week expedition using a lander containing a deep-sea camera which took 6,000 images inside the trench, between 4,500m and 8,000m.

Largest NTZ established
The world’s largest No Take Zone has come into force in the waters of the Chagos Archipelago. Commercial fishing will be banned inside the Indian Ocean marine reserve, which covers 544,000 square kilometres and contains a coral reef which is home to 1,200 species of coral and fish. However, scientists warn that despite such measures, the international community has fallen woefully short of its target to protect 10% of global waters by 2012, a deadline which has now been pushed back to 2020.

Making MPAs - fair consultation essential
 
A fascinating op-ed article by the chair of California’s Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force reveals just how delicate and complex the implementation of MPAs can be. Just as interesting are the comments appended to the article, which suggest that the perceived fairness of consultations before MPA implementation is essential for success and stakeholder compliance. Click here to read the article...


A FEW FISHY FACTS FOLKS SHOULD KNOW
- only 0.08% of the world’s oceans is classified as "no-take" zones
- aquaculture has been practised for over 5000 years in Asia
- 40% of salmon caught by local fishermen in Norway are classified as fish-farm escapees
- in the year 2000, subsidies for the UK fishing industry were estimated to be 26.6% of the value of landings


FISH OF THE MONTH
This month's species-in-focus is the increasingly thin-on-the-ground scallop. The hinged shellfish can swim short distances by squirting jets of water, but often rests on the seabed disguised by a layer of sediment. The Great Scallop is mostly caught by the current fishing practice of dredging, which rakes scallops into nets by dragging a steel frame along the seabed. This contentious form of fishing can destroy the marine habitats necessary for the scallop's reproductive needs. As an hermaphrodite it reproduces by releasing the male and female gametes separately into the surrounding water. After fertilisation, the free-swimming larvae spend about three to four weeks in the water column before attaching to seaweeds and hydroids for 3-6 weeks then dropping to the seabed.

 

Latin name: Pecten Maximus
Normal size: 175mm+
Diet: scallops are sedentary filter-feeding bivalves, which sift out plankton and other micro-organisms from the benthic zone
Habitat: Scallops are distributed around the coast of Scotland, in the North Sea and to the west of the Hebrides. Found in sheltered lochs and exposed or tidal areas, they can live in depths of 180m or more to just below the low water mark, preferring sand, gravel and maerl.


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 C.O.A.S.T.’s 8th newsletter. We hope you are looking forward to the next month’s edition already.

Coming in the next newsletter:
- Symposium round-up: uploaded coverage of all Symposium material will be available for the next issue
- C.O.A.S.T. consider legal action