Background to SNH proposals to designate the Sound of Barra and waters east of Mingulay as SPECIAL AREAS of CONSERVATION

1999
An EC Moderation Seminar highlights a need to designate additional conservation sites for harbour (common) seals and sandbanks in order to augment an existing suite of sites already proposed under the 1992 Habitats Directive.

The Babtie Group produces environmental data on marine areas for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar's Eriskay Causeway and Eriskay / Ardmhor (Barra) ferry terminal developments.

2000
The Babtie data is opportunistically used by SNH as the scientific basis for a potential (p)SAC in the Sound of Barra. A public consultation is launched in September with the stated intention of designating a large marine area primarily for the common seal and incidentally for sandbanks.

The launching of a formal public consultation has procedural consequences for SNH (see below).

The decision is taken locally to submit a scientific objection to the proposals, on the understanding that (a) such a right to object exists and (b) that only scientific arguments can be submitted. The lead objector is the Western Isles Fishermen's Association (WIFA).

Public meetings in Barra hosted by SNH attract uniformly hostile comment from attendees. But on 28 Nov 2000, SNH issue a press release erroneously stating that "(C)ommunities ... have been receiving reassurances over proposals to recognise the Sound of Barra as a Special Area of Conservation".

2001
As a result of the above press release, it is decided on Barra to raise a petition to the Scottish Parliament seeking an explanation for SNH's inaccurate reporting and further requesting an investigation into SNH's consultation procedures. This petition is widely supported by democratically elected local groups and individual representatives.

The scientific objection to the SNH proposals for a pSAC in the Sound of Barra is submitted to SNH in Aug 2001. Its two main arguments are that (1) the common seal numbers have crashed in the wake of the construction of the Eriskay Causeway - a fact which was indicative from initial data available to SNH prior to launching the consultation and (2) no convincing argument is put forward for designating the area for sandbanks and specifically no account is taken of the future effects of the Causeway or of possible alternative sites which may be superior in habitat quality.

** This document, which cost local people and organisations several £thousands is never acknowledged by SNH. **


2002
In the course of the petition's progress through Holyrood, SNH's Chief Executive, Ian Jardine, states on 10 Sept 2002 to the Public Petitions Committee that

"A count of the seal population in the Sound of Barra took place in the same year as the consultation. The count indicated that the seal numbers had dropped. The speculation was that the drop was linked to the construction of the causeway, but the sea mammals research unit advised that it would expect the seals to come back. We advised the Executive that it would be wise to wait and see whether that turned out to be right rather than send the site to Europe.
Obviously, the recurrence of the distemper virus is another unknown in the system. Science does not allow us to predict exactly what will happen to those seals and whether they will come back to the Sound of Barra. We need to wait a couple of years and see what happens."

Thereafter the Sound of Barra pSAC sits all alone in a list in SNH's annual Facts and Figures publications as it is not forwarded to the EC along with other SACs in 2004. The true explanation for SNH's stance of "wait and see" emerges in discussion in 2008/9 : under SNH procedures, once a site is proposed via public consultation, there is no existing mechanism for withdrawing it even if, as in this case, the scientific arguments to justify in the first place are flawed and shown to be just plain inaccurate.

2004
Another EC Moderation Seminar apparently identifies gaps in the suite of marine sites for common seals, sandbanks and reefs.


2001 - 2006/7
Two seabed surveys are carried out in the Sound of Barra. Surveys are also carried out in other marine SAC sites in response to an EC request for more comprehensive data on the habitats present on each site.

The Sound of Harris is surveyed in 2006 but this is by way of SNH's response to local authority recent enthusiasm for the construction of a causeway with associated renewable energy components across that body of water.

Common seal data from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) in St Andrews continue to confirm very low numbers in the Sound of Barra pSAC.

2008
In August word emerges that SNH are seeking to progress the Sound of Barra as an SAC with the addition of a new and separate site in the waters east of Mingulay as an SAC.

At a public meeting in Barra in Nov, SNH confirm that their main interest in the Sound of Barra site are now the sandbanks and that the common seal is of secondary importance. Mingulay is being proposed as a site to plug a gap in the EC suite of sites for reefs.

An action group, SHAMED (Southern Hebrides Against Marine Environmental Designations), is established and the fight is taken up on a broad front once again.

2009
New Minister for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, has held a VC with SHAMED and correspondence is being exchanged.

She labours, however, under the delusion that (a) she can give re-assurances to local people as to the effects of these designations and (b) it is the EC which is compelling the Scottish Government to proceed with protection over these sites.

Concern exists that she is naturally dependent on advice from SNH as to what steps she should take now and on what basis.

We request your support by petitioning Scottish Government and the EU against the proposed SAC going to consultation.