Rob Edwards

Ministers to review the damage caused by scallop dredging

from Sunday Herald, 24 February 2013

Scotland’s £30 million scallop-dredging industry is to be subjected to a “wide-ranging review” by ministers in the wake of allegations that it is wrecking the seabed and destroying fish stocks.

A high-profile television campaign by the celebrity chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has sparked widespread public concern about the scallop fishing industry. He has been warmly endorsed by environmental groups, but deeply upset the industry.

Now tensions are rising over the Scottish Government’s plan to re-examine the sustainability of scallop dredging. The promised review, which will cover all aspects of the industry and is due to start in April, could lead to new controls on dredgers.

Scallops are Scotland’s second most valuable shellfish fishery, with 16,000 tonnes a year taken from the sea mostly for export. But dredging for them has attracted growing criticism because of the damage it can inflict on fish nurseries, coral reefs and marine wildlife.

This was dramatised by ‘Hugh’s Fish Fight’ on Channel 4 by a tractor pulling dredging gear over a carefully crafted sand sculpture of the seabed on a beach, much to the horror on onlookers. The Scottish government’s review was welcomed by the Fish Fight campaign yesterday, with a spokesman calling for a network of new marine protected areas. 

The umbrella group for Scotland’s green groups, Scottish Environment Link, has been campaigning for a review of scallop dredging. Calum Duncan, from the Marine Conservation Society, argued that it could lead to “ecological wipe-out” of the more sensitive areas of the seabed.

Food fraud scandal needs tough action

Comment from Sunday Herald, 17 February 2013

The possibilities for food fraud today are endless. As well as substituting horsemeat for beef, whiting can be used instead of cod, sea trout instead of salmon, and cheaper varieties of potato instead of the revered King Edward.

Food can be adulterated by adding water to chicken breasts or fruit juices, or mixing coffee husks in with beans, or adding glycerol to wine. Companies can pretend that beef came from Britain instead of South America, label farmed fish as wild and try and pass off conventionally produced food as organic.

All these things have happened. The possibilities for duplicity and misrepresentation go on and on, and a litany of apologies and promises do nothing to assuage public concern. People aren't losing trust in the industrialised, multinational food chain - they have already lost it. Little wonder then that consumers who can afford it are increasingly turning to known local producers.

Whatever we might wish, the international food industry is not going to wither away. It must be policed, and policed hard by tough, well-resourced, independent regulators, rather than by itself, as increasingly seems to be the case. 

That's why our revelations today that food safety sampling has dropped by one-third over the last four years, as meat inspectors and environmental health officers have lost their jobs, is particularly disturbing. It only adds to the toxic mix that these reductions in sampling and job losses have come about because of public sector cuts.

Among all the priorities of government, surely ensuring the integrity of the food its citizens eat is one of the highest?

Fears of more horsemeat scandals as food safety tests fall by a third

from Sunday Herald, 17 February 2013 

The sampling of food to ensure that it’s safe to eat has plummeted by more than a third in Scotland over the last four years, as safety inspectors have lost their jobs and public spending has been slashed.

An investigation by the Sunday Herald has uncovered steep declines in the testing and inspection regimes meant to prevent frauds like horsemeat being sold as beef. Experts are warning that such scandals could happen again, and politicians are demanding urgent action.

The revelations come as the crisis in the multinational food industry triggered by the discovery of horsemeat in beefburgers continues to escalate. Last week saw police raids on meat plants in England and Wales, three arrests, a string of new meat products withdrawn by supermarkets and horsemeat in school and hospital food. 

An unauthorised drug known as bute was detected in some horsemeat, and Investigations were launched across Europe to try and identify exactly who was guilty of passing horsemeat off as beef. A French company, Spanghero, was implicated by the French government.

As governments, regulators, supermarkets and meat processors struggle to restore consumer confidence, one of the crucial emerging questions is how the public are protected from food fraud and abuse. The answer is that protection is steadily being stripped away.

Tories accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over £50,000 a year profits from wind farms

from Sunday Herald, 17 February 2013

The Scottish Conservatives have been accused of “hypocritical posturing” for opposing wind farms when three of their MSPs together stand to profit by at least £50,000 a year from them.

The Sunday Herald can reveal that Jamie McGrigor, the party’s’ environment spokesman, Alex Fergusson, the Scottish Parliament’s former presiding officer, and John Scott, the current deputy presiding officer, are all expecting to receive a substantial annual income from wind turbines on or near their land.

They have declared their involvement in the latest register of MSPs’ interests, but political opponents and environmental groups say that it conflicts with the new anti-wind farm policy adopted by the Scottish Conservatives last month.

A report launched by the party leader, Ruth Davidson MSP, demanded a big cut in the number of wind farms planned on land, and for wind subsidies to be slashed by 50 per cent. It also called for councils to be given the power to impose a one-year moratorium on any new wind turbines.

Farmed salmon killed by disease leaps to 8.5 million

from Sunday Herald, 10 February 2013 

The number of salmon killed by diseases at Scottish fish farms leapt to over 8.5 million last year, sparking fresh doubts about the sustainability of the £1 billion industry.

New figures released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) reveal that losses from all salmon farms have reached nearly ten per cent of their production. The main problem has been the spread of Amoebic Gill Disease, blamed by some on the warmer seas caused by climate pollution.

A mountain of 13,627 tonnes of dead fish had to be disposed of in 2012 by 230 fish farms along the west coast and on the islands, compared to 9,717 tonnes in 2011 and 7,159 tonnes in 2010. The worst problems were in Shetland, where 2.4 million salmon died.

The mass mortalities – known in the industry as morts – have also raised questions about how such large amounts of diseased waste are safely disposed of, and how the process is regulated. Sepa and local authorities both say it is not their responsibility.

Farmed salmon is Scotland’s single largest food export, with a worldwide retail value of over £1 billion and major sales in the US, China and France. Production has risen fivefold since 1990, and now involves 27 companies employing more than 1,000 people in rural areas to produce over 158,000 tonnes of salmon a year. 

The industry, backed by the Scottish government, is hoping to continue the boom with a further 50% increase in the production of all farmed finfish by 2020. But such ambitions may now suffer because of the mounting mortalities, and the financial problems they are triggering.

Where have all the dead fish gone?

from Sunday Herald, 10 February 2013

It started with rumours about skips full of stinking fish on the shore and crammed containers being transported across the land. And it ended with something of a mystery.

When Ewan Kennedy, a retired lawyer from the Argyll village of Kilmelford, discovered that a nearby fish farm he had been campaigning against had suffered mass mortalities, he wanted to know more. So he started asking questions. 

He soon discovered from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) that there had been 82,663 salmon deaths between August 2011 and June 2012 at the Ardmaddy fish farm in Seil Sound. But the authorities didn’t make clear what had caused the deaths – though it was probably due to an outbreak of Amoebic Gill Disease.

And when Kennedy, who is secretary of the Save Seil Sound campaign group, asked what had happened to the 257 tonnes of dead fish waste, no-one seemed to know. “This must have presented an enormous disposal problem,” he told the Sunday Herald.

“I don’t know which is worse, Sepa and Marine Scotland not asking what killed the fish, or Argyll and Bute Council not knowing anything about where the waste went, when these three share the responsibility for protecting public health.”

Action needed to get people out of their cars

Comment from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013 

Scottish ministers, like elected politicians the world over, have long been reluctant to introduce measures that would make motoring less attractive and more expensive.

But evidence of the multiple ways in which our addiction to private cars is harming us is growing, and is difficult to dispute.

As the Sunday Herald reveals today, cars and other motor vehicles produce noise and air pollution in our urban centres, threatening the health of millions of people.

According to scientists, they are also a leading cause of the global warming that is dangerously disrupting the climate here and abroad. Yet, in the Scottish Government's long-awaited plans to cut climate pollution published last week, transport is by far the weakest link.

Ending our love affair with the car to save humankind

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Scotland must end its love affair with the car. That is the blunt message from leading experts in the face of mounting evidence of the havoc wreaked on the climate and communities by the internal combustion engine.

The Sunday Herald reveals today that fumes from car exhausts are poisoning the air in cities and towns across the land, leading to thousands of premature deaths. The noise from vehicle engines is also blighting the lives of nearly a million people, while high speed limits are boosting pollution and accidents.

According to Professor James Curran, the chief executive of the government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency, pollution from transport is also one of the major causes of climate change. “In my view this is the greatest threat faced by humankind so we’ve got to do something about it,” he said.

“If you do need to travel, try walking, cycling or public transport, all of which have lower emissions than cars. If you really have to drive, try car-sharing, choose the cleanest car you can, and drive it as economically as you can.”

He told the Sunday Herald that he was a realist. “I know that weaning people off their cars isn't easy,” he said. “But we must get serious about dealing with climate change, and meeting our national target of a 42% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.” 

Revealed: the 26 places in Scotland poisoned by air pollution

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013 

Fumes from vehicle exhausts breached air pollution safety limits at 26 urban sites across Scotland last year and put the health of millions of people at risk, according to government monitoring results.

There were toxic concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles emitted by cars, lorries and buses in the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Paisley, Bearsden, Rutherglen, Perth, Falkirk and several other towns in 2012 (see table below).

According to experts, the levels are high enough to cause breathing problems and heart attacks. Up to 3,000 people are officially estimated to die every year from air pollution in Scotland, compared to 190 deaths from road accidents.

The worst pollution was at Hope Street in the centre of Glasgow, raising doubts as to whether the city’s air will be safe to breath for the thousands of athletes and visitors expected to flock to the Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2014.

“Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to people's health,” said Dr Richard Dixon, the new director of Friends of the Earth Scotland. “Fumes from cars, lorries and buses kill off at least 10 times the number who die in road crashes every year.”

Move to cut the car noise that damages health

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Multinational car companies are facing new curbs to silence the excessive traffic noise that blights the lives of nearly a million people across Scotland.

The European Parliament is due to vote this week on legislative proposals to force manufacturers to introduce quieter engines and exhausts, amidst mounting evidence of the damaging impacts on public health.

MEPs are being urged by environmental campaigners in Scotland and Brussels to back the moves. But they are being fiercely opposed by car manufacturers, including the German sports car company, Porsche.

According to official figures, as many as 945,100 people in Scotland are exposed to daytime noise levels from traffic above 55 decibels. The World Health Organisation says that this will damage performance at work and school, disturb sleep and impair hearing and heart functions.

Tougher speed limits would cut climate pollution, says report

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2013

Reducing vehicle speed limits to 40mph would cut climate-wrecking carbon emissions, according to a report from the government-funded Transport Research Laboratory.

It also says that such a move would cut injuries and deaths from traffic accidents, as well as noise and air pollution. And it warns that motorists often over-estimate the time that they will save by driving faster. 

The report was commissioned by the university-backed Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation for a seminar on speed limits and climate change taking place this week. Organised by the Scottish government’s high-ranking 2020 Climate Group, it is aimed at addressing one of the “more challenging” barriers to cutting climate pollution.