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Vaquita. Photo Thomas Jefferson

Scientific Committee gives first ever official species extinction warning

Photo: Thomas Jefferson We have welcomed the urgent call by experts to protect the vaquita...
blue whale

Whale fossil from Peru may have been heavier than blue whale

Scientists examining the bones of a 39 million-year-old ancient whale have concluded that it may...
Humpback whale © Christopher Swann

Humpback whales breach in synchronisation

Humpback whales are renowned for their incredible acrobatic displays, but a family in the USA...
Long-finned pilot whale

Unusual activity witnessed before pilot whale stranding

Just days after a pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded on an island in the...

Scottish government warned that proposed protection plans fail to protect sea life

WDC has joined a number of Scottish environmental charities in warning the Scottish government that its new proposals to manage fishing in Scotland’s recently established network of protected sea areas could actually risk failing to protect and, crucially, recover the very sea life which these areas were set up to protect.

The proposals issued today by the Scottish government outline a range of scenarios for 20 inshore marine protected areas (MPAs), some of which would allow fishing methods such as scallop-dredging and bottom-trawling to continue to damage the seabed. This on-going damage to the seafloor has wider, negative, knock-on impacts for other marine life, including whales and dolphins, which move around, feeding and breeding in these important sea areas. The plans are now the subject of a three month long public consultation, as Scottish government staff tour coastal communities throughout November and December.

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