Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, pledged in 2017 "not to roll back our hard-won environmental protections after BREXIT".
Scottish law on ADDs is unusually clear: it is an offence to "deliberately or recklessly disturb or injure any porpoise, dolphin or whale".
The 2014 Marine Scotland booklet "The protection of Marine European Protected Species from injury and disturbance" gives guidance to this law, helpful to our legal argument that salmon farms disturbing cetaceans with ADDs are breaking the law and that Marine Scotland are in breach of their duty to enforce the law.
However Marine Scotland have rewritten their 2014 guidance.
One of the changes to the 2020 revision of the guidance was to delete this important European Commission definition of "deliberate" disturbance and injury which fits the salmon farm use of ADDs.
‘Deliberate’ actions are to be understood as actions by a person who knows, in light of the relevant legislation that applies to the species involved, and the general information delivered to the public, that his action will most likely lead to an offence against a species, but intends this offence or, if not, consciously accepts the foreseeable results of his action.
Changing the guidance is part of a worrying trend to water down the laws protecting wildlife.
The Firth of Lorn SAC was closed to scallop dredging 13 years ago following to a successful complaint to Europe which cost nothing to lodge. The SAC has shown dramatic recovery since scallop dredging was banned including a 286% increase in porpoises: https://www.facebook.com/bbcearth/videos/1784731658227049
Post Brexit there is a significant cost to a community group wishing to take Government to court for failing to enforce environmental legislation.
The forthcoming Continuity Bill is supposed to replace our right to free environmental justice from Europe, but current proposals are totally inadequate.
If you think the promise "not to roll back our hard-won environmental protections" is not being met, please share and sign this petition.
We will keep you updated.