WDC joins protest against ship-to-ship oil transfers in Scotland

Hundreds of protesters gathered over the weekend in Nairn to campaign against new plans for ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Moray Firth.

Groups from both sides of the Firth, including WDC, met at Nairn central beach to voice their opposition to Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s request for a licence to begin the transfer millions of tonnes of crude oil at sea.

WDC believes that these oil transfers would pose serious risk to wildlife in the area, and the resident population of bottlenose dolphins in particular.

Despite the port authority’s insistence that the risk of a spill was minimal, Jacquie Ross from local opposition group, Cromarty Rising, said; “We have been researching every aspect of the plan and nothing we have found has been positive. This is the wrong plan in the wrong place.”                                                                                              

The Moray Firth is also home to harbour porpoises, minke whales and other marine and bird life, and WDC has submitted concerns to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who are deciding whether the ship-to-ship transfers can go ahead.