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Earlier this month, Save Scottish Seas campaign members took the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee to experience some of Scotland’s amazing marine life, and showcase Scotland’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). (more…)

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Scottish Government recently announced their Programme for Scotland for the next year. With the government committed to reaching the Aichi target to halt biodiversity loss by 2020, and developing a network of coherent Marine Protected Areas (MPA), we expect this to be a busy year to keep Scotland on track. There were many welcome commitments this week, including the long-hoped-for commitment to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, as well as commitments to increase protection for Priority Marine Features outside of MPAs, evaluate options for a deep sea marine reserve and develop a programme of research on blue carbon stores.   
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Guest blogger Peadar O’Connell, Marine Policy Officer at RSPB Scotland, and Save Scottish Seas campaign member takes a closer look at the lesser sandeel (Ammodytes marinus), one of the incredible marine species swimming in Scotland’s seas.

Photo Credit: Steve Garvie

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Guest blogger Sarah Dolman, Policy Manager at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and Save Scottish Seas campaign member takes a look at Scotland’s nature conservation MPAs three years since their designation, and looks ahead to the next steps required.

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Summer is upon us, and for many that means heading to the coastline to catch a glimpse of some of the amazing wildlife Scotland’s beaches and seas play host to. Scotland’s coast is arguably the best place in Europe to see dolphins, porpoises and whales, attracting visitors around the world. Basking sharks – the second largest fish in the world – can also be seen in west coast waters in the summer months, as can magnificent seabird colonies, seals, otters, osprey and more.
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Hosted at the RRS Discovery Centre, Dundee, the second Sea Scotland conference drew together Scotland’s marine users, scientists, policy makers and more to share knowledge and discuss solutions to some of the greatest challenges and opportunities facing the sustainable management of Scotland’s marine area.
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Upcoming artists and graphic designers were asked to ‘picture’ a sustainable Scotland, and show Members of the Scottish Parliament what is needed to give Scotland a sustainable future at Scottish Environment week, a parliamentary event run by Scottish Environment LINK earlier this year. Four of these fantastic images focused on environmental challenges in the marine environment. To celebrate World Ocean’s Day we wanted to share these brilliant pieces of work.

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Scotland’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) network is designed to provide place based protection to maintain representative habitats and species in good health, and in some cases support recovery, for rare, endangered and vulnerable habitats and species. All MPAs require unique management measures that provide protection to their identified features (habitat and/or species) from damaging activity,  (more…)

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Flame Shell in Strome Narrows, Loch Carron

You might have heard about recent events at Loch Carron. Back in April there were reports that scallop dredging, a form of fishing that pulls heavy toothed metal rakes and chain bags along the seabed, had damaged a flame-shell reef in outer Loch Carron. (more…)

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 A few weeks ago, inshore fishermen, policy makers, NGOs, scientists and more came together to discuss Scotland’s inshore fisheries at the fourth Scottish Inshore Fisheries Conference. The need for continued collaboration between all marine stakeholders to work towards a positive and sustainable future of inshore fisheries management was clear.
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