Reaching a crossroads – The Inverness Courier
According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, research suggests the number of recreational vessels using the firth may already be at the limit of what the 130-or so dolphins can tolerate. To allow any more would, it argues, be self defeating and risk driving away the very attraction the enterprises are looking to make money from.
The problem is that we do not really know. The dolphins are nominally protected by an EU Habitats Directive and a Special Area of Conservation and all the existing operators sign up to the Dolphin Space Programme, which sets out a code of responsible behaviour. However, there are still too many gaps in our knowledge about how the creatures live and their vulnerability to disturbance by shipping for definitive rules to be drawn up with any confidence they will make a difference.
Internationally, bottlenose dolphins are not an endangered species and those living in the Moray Firth are important largely for their curiosity value as the world’s most northerly resident population. In addition, a modest tourist industry has grown up around them and more could have been made of this onshore had Inverness planners not decided that retail warehouses and plant hire depots were more appropriate developments on the city’s waterfront than apartments, hotels and flagship offices.
Set against the environmental case is the Moray Firth’s continuing importance as a commercial waterway. Inverness Harbour has expanded and is likely to become busier, not just with recreational craft but with large merchant vessels.
So far the two have managed to co-exist thanks to goodwill on both sides, but the signs are we may be reaching a crossroads. If we are serious about protecting the dolphins we require detailed, and probably publicly-funded, research to enable informed decisions to be made.
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