from Sunday Herald, 21 May 2006
LOCH Lomond could be irretrievably damaged by alien fish escaping from a huge new aquarium that is due to open this summer.
The national park authority has warned that an invasion of the loch by species that are not naturally present could drive out and decimate native fish. It could also spread harmful new diseases and parasites.
To reduce the risk, the park authority wants to ban some species from the aquarium. But animal rights campaigners are calling for the aquarium itself to be banned, claiming that it could turn the loch into “a dead sea”.
Scottish Enterprise is applying for permission to install three large underground reservoirs as part of the redevelopment of Drumkinnon Tower at Loch Lomond Shores in Balloch.
With the help of the multinational entertainments company Merlin, the aim is to open a £3.5 million sea life centre in July as a tourist attraction. Merlin already runs 21 similar sites in eight European countries, four Legoland parks and five dungeon centres.
But the Loch Lomond proposal has run into an unexpected last-minute hitch. At a meeting in Balloch tomorrow, the planning committee of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park is being urged to impose strict controls on the aquarium.
In a report to the committee, the park’s planning director, Gordon Watson, points out that the aquarium is planning to host “a range of potentially invasive and ecologically damaging species”. If any escape, he warns, “the proposed development could have significant adverse effects on the environment of Loch Lomond.”
He is particularly worried about freshwater fish that are not currently found in the loch, such as carp, bream, bullhead and barbel. The introduction of alien species, he says, “could potentially result in practically irreversible changes to the ecology of Loch Lomond”.
Watson is suggesting that an independent assessment of the aquarium’s security is carried out before it is approved. “This would include species escape and the potential for any other potentially damaging biological release, such as parasites or disease,” he says.
“However, it is considered unlikely that any safeguards could cover every eventuality. A catastrophic systems failure could still result in damaging species escaping to the water environment.”
Watson is proposing a complete ban on harmful types of fish. As operators of the aquarium, Merlin would only be able to include species on a list approved by the park authority.
This, however, doesn’t go far enough for some. Tomorrow’s planning committee meeting is heralded by John Robins of Animal Concern as a “defining moment for Scotland’s natural heritage”.
He said: “Will they protect the environmentally sensitive natural wonders of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs or allow the area to be damaged and exploited as a commercial theme park?”
He called for the aquarium to be rejected in its entirety. “The conversion of Drumkinnon Tower into a marine zoo has the potential to turn Loch Lomond into a dead sea, devoid of wildlife,” he warned.
Scottish Enterprise referred questions to Merlin, which accused the park authority of a misunderstanding. “It’s an over-reaction from a regulatory point of view,” said Merlin spokesman, Mike Stephenson. No such problems had arisen at the company’s other aquariums, he pointed out. The Loch Lomond facility would be “completely secure”, he claimed. “We can see no way fish could get into the loch.”
Even so, Merlin had been in discussions with the park authority about which species would be acceptable. As a result the company had agreed to withdraw some, and if the authority wanted to impose further restrictions “then we will live with it,” Stephenson said.
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