Jean has welcomed the Scottish Government’s draft National Marine Plan, but urged Ministers to include more ambitious measures to secure restore damaged ecosystems such as Wester Ross’s vital mearl beds.

During a Scottish Parliament debate on the plan last Thursday, Jean praised the Government for their progress on what will be the first national-level marine plan in the UK.

However, she said the final plan should aim not just to preserve damaged ecosystems in their current state, but ensure their recovery and growth.

Jean said:

“The draft National Marine Plan is a great start and ministers deserve praise for that. But as it develops, it needs to be more ambitious about restoring vital ecosystems, and more responsive to emerging science and the ever-changing nature of the sea.

“Wester Ross’s beds of the coral-like seaweed called maerl provide a habitat for thousands of other marine species. They are particularly economically important for scallop fishing, providing the perfect nursery for you scallops. But they are also among the most badly-damaged maerl beds in Scotland.

“The current plan draws a protective area tightly around the existing beds, providing little opportunity for growth. It doesn’t even cover some more recently-discovered areas, showing the necessity for a flexible plan that can respond to new information.

“There are examples like this right around Scotland, but each case is different, so it’s also important that communities have real power to implement the national plan in a way that suits local needs.”

“We also need to be sure that the plan is adhered to, otherwise it’s really just a piece of paper. That means a little more clarity in the plan itself, but most importantly it means both the Scottish and UK governments providing appropriate resources to protect our seas.

“The grounding of the Lysblink Seaways on Ardnamurchan last week was another reminder that, for both crew safety and the marine environment, we need an emergency towing vessel in the Minch.”

Scottish Natural Heritage explains what maerl is and why it is so important:

“Maerl is an unusual seaweed – an unattached red seaweed called ‘coralline’ algae. These seaweeds deposit lime in their cell walls as they grow, giving them a hard, brittle skeleton.

“Maerl beds provide vital shelter for a wide range of marine creatures. Experiments have shown that young scallops in particular have a strong preference for living maerl beds as nursery areas. Protecting maerl beds therefore helps to sustain scallop fishing, important commercially in western Scotland. It is ironic, therefore, that scallop dredging has been shown to cause significant damage both to maerl beds – by breaking up and burying the thin layer of living maerl – and to their associated species. Maerl is fragile and slow-growing, and can also be damaged by heavy anchors and mooring chains.”

Read more at the SNH website.