AN ISLAND campaign group has slammed the Scottish Government’s plans to make the Inner Hebrides and Minch a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for Scotland’s smallest cetacean, the harbour porpoise, writes Sandy Neil.
An EU Habitats Directive prohibits the deliberate killing, capturing or disturbance of the species in European waters, but this is not thought sufficient protection. So UK governments are also legally obliged to designate SACs to protect the marine mammals’ habitat and prey, and five more are planned in the waters around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A study by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) identified the Inner Hebrides and Minch as home to high densities of harbour porpoise.