Archive - Eleanor Scott MSP Press Releases
Scott Urges Ministers to Act on Beaver Trial - Friday 25 March 2005
Eleanor Scott, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, has challenged the Scottish Executive for delaying the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland.
Dr Scott asked questions in Parliament yesterday about the timescale for reintroducing European beavers to Argyll, but was fobbed off with excuses for the delay by Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Lewis MacDonald.
Dr Scott said: “The plan for reintroducing beavers has been on the table since early 2002, and unless approval is granted soon, there will be another year’s delay because the beavers need to be released in spring.
“We have an obligation under the Habitats Directive to reintroduce the species we have made extinct in Scotland but the Executive has been prevaricating over this for years now. Beavers have been successfully reintroduced in other parts of Europe and they bring important biodiversity and habitat benefits and give wildlife tourism a boost. It’s high time we brought them back to Scotland and I hope that the minister will give the proposal the go ahead as soon as possible.
“We also need to open up the debate about our longer term plans for ecological restoration, including reintroducing some of the predators we have eliminated, such as lynx, in order to achieve a better balance between herbivores and carnivores in our native habitats.”
Notes to editors:
Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for determining whether approval should be granted for the proposal by Scottish Natural Heritage for a trial reintroduction of European beavers in Argyll. (S2O-6005)
The Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Lewis Macdonald): SNH made its proposal in January 2002. Ministers asked the organisation for more information in December 2002, which was provided in February 2005. We will reach a decision when we have had the opportunity fully to consider the facts of the case.
Eleanor Scott: Is the minister aware that the project has been delayed for a number of years and that if no decision is made this spring it will be delayed for another year, which would be regrettable given the work that SNH has put into the project, the strong backing of the conservation sector and the potential benefits for wildlife tourism?
Lewis Macdonald: As I said, the original application was made by SNH some years ago, but the additional information for which SNH was asked in 2002 was provided only last month. I am sure that the member agrees that information that has taken such a long time to assemble clearly requires to be considered with care. The situation with regard to the application is unusual, because SNH usually acts as our adviser on such applications, whereas in this case the organisation itself is the applicant—a situation which poses unusual questions. However, the main consideration from ministers’ point of view is that we should explore all the potential impacts of such a development before we make a decision.
