New first minister must stand up for coastal communities, campaigners urge

Campaigners are demanding Scotland’s next first minister tackles the “environmental harm” being caused by scallop dredging and “stands up for coastal communities” which do not want the practice to continue.

Phil Taylor, director of marine conservation charity Open Seas, made the plea after judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh last week rejected a bid by the Scottish Government to overturn an earlier court ruling in a case centred on the fishing practice.

A panel of three judges, including Scotland’s most senior judge Lord President Lord Carloway, upheld a decision by the court in June 2023 after a legal challenge to the Government’s approach to licensing for scallop dredging.

Open Seas had taken the Government to court, arguing licensing decisions to allow the practice – which involves weighted nets being dragged across the seabed – were unlawful because ministers did not consider their impact on marine habitats.

The campaign group understands the Government will not appeal against that decision.

It comes as Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan told MSPs on Holyrood’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee that ministers are “working at pace to look at how we can implement what is going to be a practical and proportionate process” in response to the court judgment.

Mr Taylor insisted the recent Court of Session ruling had been “clear that the Scottish Government has been making fisheries licensing decisions unlawfully”.

He added: “It is clear that ministers can no longer continue to hand out permissions to use these harmful fishing methods in ways that blatantly contradict and conflict with their own marine conservation goals in the National Marine Plan.”

The campaigner went on to insist it was “regrettable that the Government sought to fight us in court rather than address the impacts caused by scallop dredging”.

He added: “Their appeal has done little other than to waste more public money and allow more time to pass during which more environmental harm will have been unlawfully allowed.”

He said the ruling last week means there is a “clear legal mandate to protect these habitats”.

Mr Taylor added: “We call on ministers to take action and stop giving carte blanche to scallop dredge vessels to cause harm to these habitats.

“NatureScot know where the sensitive seabed habitats are, they have advised Scottish ministers where they are, and the Scottish Government has the powers. There is therefore no excuse to delay.

“The next first minister will need to show that the Government can get back on track with many of its commitments and legal duties.

“We call for them to take the action required to end environmental harm, stand up for coastal communities who do not want it to continue, and put Scotland’s fisheries on a more sustainable footing.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have noted the court’s outcome and we are working to implement a practical and proportionate process to ensure we can continue licensing in line with the judgment.

“Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures required to protect priority marine features and marine protected areas remains a high priority for the Scottish Government.”