{"id":198914,"date":"2025-10-03T06:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198914\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T06:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:33:09","slug":"reef-concerns-after-dredgers-filmed-in-protected-seas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/198914\/","title":{"rendered":"Reef concerns after dredgers filmed in protected seas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin KeaneEnvironment, energy and rural affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland<\/p>\n

\"BallyBally Philp<\/p>\n

One of the two boats filmed fishing inside the marine protected area<\/p>\n

The Scottish government is investigating after two boats were filmed allegedly scallop dredging in a marine protected area (MPA) in the north-west Highlands.<\/p>\n

The footage shows the Dawn Maid, and one other boat, hauling up its gear after being challenged in Loch Alsh between the Scottish mainland and Skye.<\/p>\n

Environmental group Open Seas says it shows that monitoring of protected waters isn’t working. <\/p>\n

The boat’s owner says the skippers chose the area after advice from the local fishery officer and left when they realised their mistake.<\/p>\n

The activity was spotted on Sunday morning by a creel fisherman who said the scallop dredging had been happening for many hours.<\/p>\n

He approached the boats on a rib to inform the skippers that the area was closed to mobile fishing and had been for the past ten years.<\/p>\n

One skipper told him he believed fishing was allowed until 1 October.<\/p>\n

After a short time, both boats hauled up their dredging equipment and left the area.<\/p>\n

\"NatureScot\/ScottishNatureScot\/Scottish Government<\/p>\n

Millions of flame shells, normally found in deeper waters, live on the seabed<\/p>\n

The campaign group Open Seas has condemned the “reckless and illegal” dredging and has described it as a betrayal of Scottish society’s investment in our seas.<\/p>\n

Director Phil Taylor added: “Scallop dredging is so damaging that dredge boats use an area, causing enormous damage, and then simply move on from the depleted seabeds.<\/p>\n

“This incident shows that the dredge industry is out of control and measures to establish a sustainable management system for it are not working.”<\/p>\n

He said the vessel tracking systems which are meant to monitor fishing activity and alert authorities when incidents occur “appear not to be working”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Local creel fisherman Bally Philp says the dredger has undone a decade of restoration<\/p>\n

The Marine Protected Area covers three deep sea lochs; Loch Alsh, Loch Duich and Loch Long.<\/p>\n

It’s home to about 100 million bright red flame shells and is the largest known habitat of the animal anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

The muddy seabed contains a network of burrowed chambers which are home to many species which would only normally be found in much deeper waters offshore.<\/p>\n

Bally Philp, the creel fisherman who filmed the scallop dredgers, said the local fleet sacrificed a lot for the marine protected area.<\/p>\n

He added: “It’s really frustrating because we’ve invested in trying to improve the health of our marine environment and that investment has been undermined by someone outwith our community.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fishery officers<\/p>\n

In 2017, emergency measures were introduced on nearby Loch Carron after a dredger caused significant damage to a large flame shell reef.<\/p>\n

The reef had been discovered five years earlier and was estimated to contain about 250 million flame shells.<\/p>\n

Subsequent dives to the seabed revealed the extent of the damage but the skipper involved had legally done nothing wrong because the site contained no restrictions.<\/p>\n

That wasn’t the case though at Loch Alsh where an MPA has been in place since 2014.<\/p>\n

One of the boats involved in the Loch Alsh incident, the Dawn Maid, is part owned by Mull-based businessman Calum MacLachlainn.<\/p>\n

He told BBC Scotland News that he wanted answers from Marine Scotland on why his skipper was given incorrect information by fisheries officers.<\/p>\n

He added: “Both skippers involved acted on advice given to them.<\/p>\n

“I was told a number of years ago by Marine Scotland to check with local fishery officers if there was any ambiguity at all.”<\/p>\n

Mr MacLachlainn said he would welcome a discussion with the fisheries authority.<\/p>\n

The Scottish government confirmed it had received a report of illegal fishing, adding: “We can confirm we are investigating an incident in the Loch Alsh area over the weekend.”<\/p>\n

The spokesperson was asked specifically about reports that fishermen had been given incorrect information to which they added: “As this is a live investigation the Scottish Government is not able to comment further.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin KeaneEnvironment, energy and rural affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland Bally Philp One of the two boats filmed fishing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-198914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}