Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive is committedto ensuring that Scottish legislation gives full effect to the provisions of theEU Habitats Directive. Relevant legislative provisions are kept under review ona continuous basis, taking into account relevant case law or court judgments. TheConservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations2007, currently passing through this Parliament, is an outcome of that process andwill make a number of changes to the Conservation Regulations in order to meet therequirements of the European Court of Justice rulings on cases C-6/04 and C-131/05.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30453 on 15 January 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Executive set upthe Scottish Seals Forum in 2002 to bring stakeholders together to exchange informationand develop a co-ordinated approach to the management of Scottish seal populations.This forum provides the appropriate focal point for representations concerning theConservation of Seals Act 1970. I understand that it is currently anticipated thatthe forum is likely to discuss the issue at its next meeting in spring 2007.

Where laboratory analysis confirmsthe presence of exotic disease such as foot-and-mouth disease or avianinfluenza, EU legislation requires the culling of susceptible animals on infectedpremises and on dangerous contacts.

The Executive and State VeterinaryService work closely with the veterinary profession and the continuing developmentof disease control policy takes into account both the views expressed within theveterinary profession and the evolving science base.

Current research projects supportedby the Executive, include evaluation or trials of the general effectiveness of severalAcoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) against seals and the deployment of ADDs withinrivers in order to deter seals from a specific area of river and as a barrier toupstream movement of seals.

A total of 93 seals were shotduring the first phase of the plan between April and December 2005, a significantreduction on the previous level and less than permitted under the licence. The secondphase of the plan does not end until 31 December 2006 and final returns on seals shot during the period January to December 2006are currently awaited.

The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan provides for an annual licence application under the Conservation of Seals(Scotland) Order 2004. Scottish Executive consideration of this application, includesthe securing of scientific advice on seal conservation and management and the undertakingof an appropriate assessment due to the presence of the Dornoch Firth and MorrichMore SAC for common seals.

The maximum numbers permittedunder the licence were calculated using a precautionary permitted biological removalfigure recommended by the statutory scientific advisers on seal management. Thelicence sets out maximum numbers and the provisions of the licence are only usedwhere it is considered that this is necessary to protect fisheries.

The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan is monitored through a combination of regular surveys of local seal populationsand annual returns from participants in the scheme.

The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan has focussed on the management of seals that forage in rivers and so targetsthe individual animals believed to cause most damage to stocks. It has been shownthat removal of salmon by seals may have a large impact where stocks are low, forexample during spring months.

The plan therefore takes a precautionaryapproach to lessening the impacts of predation on salmon stocks while minimisingimpacts on the common seal population but the numbers of salmon returning to Scottishrivers depends on a wide range of factors. The concurrent variations in these factorscan result in large fluctuations between years in numbers of salmon and means thatit is very difficult to isolate the impact of individual management measures fromrecords of salmon catches and counts.

The competent authority for theGM Food and Feed Regulation 1829/2003 in the UK is the Food Standards Agency(FSA), and it is a devolved matter within the UK. The Food Standards Agency advises Scottish ministers onthe transposition of EU measures into Scottish legislation relating to this area.The agency in Scotland also advises Scottish ministers on issues relating to geneticallymodified food and feed.

The agency in Scotland ensuresthat Scottish stakeholder views and any specific Scottish circumstances are takeninto consideration when developing the agency’s policy advice and any actions inrelation to genetically modified food and feed applications.