|
Good news!
Following some recent communications I had with NatureScot, I can announce that they plan to publish their wildlife licensing data on an annual basis going forward, just like Natural England now does following pressure from our campaign. It will be freely available for public scrutiny. Earlier this year, you might remember, we encouraged NatureScot to publish details of their lethal control licences, following which they released some limited data in August. It didn't reveal much detail, for example no mention of the numbers of wildlife affected under each licence; so I asked them to provide more specifics. They were reticent, saying that "while data on the specific numbers associated with each licence is very informative we concluded that the time taken to process this quantity of data would not be viable and would impede on current licensing demand." However, soon after that, they did release the details - and the shocking scale of lethal control became clear - and rang loud alarm bells, raising many questions over NatureScot's licensing procedures and decision making. In just a few years they had approved licences to kill thousands and thousands of birds and mammals. Little wonder perhaps that they were reticent to share the details. The good news The good news is that we can now look forward to regular declarations of licence data from NatureScot, which will be available for public scrutiny, similar to what we now have from Natural England. This in itself means much more transparency around the system and therefore more accountability over the licences. And all in public view, which is something I've been campaigning for over several years. I believe we have a right to examine this kind of data from governmental bodies, so that we can ask questions and where necessary push for change. More detail Though I haven't got any specific dates yet for the publication of the statistics, I have been told that the data will be collated starting in the new year and it should include licence 'returns' information - that's the actual numbers of birds and animals reportedly killed under each licence. These licence returns generally rely on the honesty and integrity of the licence holder in reporting the figures accurately, but even with that slightly flawed system of monitoring licences, the more information in the public domain the better. NatureScot told me "We plan to publish it [the licence data] annually so we can include the returns data and everyone can see how much lethal control was actually undertaken rather than just the numbers that were licenced. We will start collating that data in the New Year." So it is good news, and thanks everyone for helping to achieve this result. (Meanwhile, there is also a separate ongoing review of species licensing in Scotland, which should hopefully bring other reforms to NatureScot's licensing system. This seems to be the 'investigation' that the first minister referred to a couple of months ago after the lethal control licence data was released. I'm told there should be an update on this review "in the coming weeks") Best, Jase A note on whales... Briefly, on another matter, an update regarding dead whales..... I've been trying to find out how many cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) have been washing up on our beaches; but Defra (who hold the information for England and Wales) have been less than forthcoming with the numbers. We know there were more than 1000 cetaceans washed up dead and dying around the UK coast in 2018 - an unusually high number - but since then the figures have been kept secret. My hunch, as I've mentioned before, is that the proliferation of wind farm developments is causing havoc to marine ecosystems, and that the ongoing rapid industrialisation of our seas is affecting the delicate sonar of cetaceans causing them to strand. Defra rejected my freedom of information request in which I asked them to share more recent data on whale deaths. I challenged them on this but they have doubled down on their decision. The matter is now with the Information Commissioner’s Office. I'll bring you more on this in due course. 
3 Comments
Hi folks,
A quick update for you, as the countdown to the festive season begins, just to let you know that 1) I'm still here, and 2) I am still working on the campaign! It's just been a little quiet of late, which is a good sign as there haven't been any major questions to ask the UK nature agencies since the last updates. Licences and more... However, shortly I will be ensuring that the 2023 wildlife licence data is being prepared by both Natural England and NatureScot, and pushing for publication dates for both data sets. Natural England normally release theirs as early as February (or as late as June!), while NatureScot have yet to confirm how often they will publish theirs going forward, after we successfully pushed them to release a full set of licence data last summer - which revealed some worrying statistics.... On this matter, in the past week or so I've been in touch again with NatureScot to ask for an update on the investigation promised by Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf into the shocking number of wildlife licences issued north of the border. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, my contact at NatureScot hasn't responded to my enquiry, which is frustrating - but I'm persistent as you know and I'll try again next week. While the cynic in me is not expecting there to be any major developments on the investigation, you just never know.... I have also asked them when they plan to publish the next set of licence data. I'll update everyone on this in due course. Black-headed gull eggs Meanwhile, back south of the border, in the new year I'll also seek to clarify with Natural England the situation regarding Black-headed gull eggs after all the anomalies of last year when some eggs still made it on to the open market despite Natural England withdrawing nearly all egg harvesting licences. Until every last licence is withdrawn, we can't know whether eggs are on sale legally or illegally. So that's a task for January. Secrecy over number of whale strandings On a side issue, some of you might know that I have been investigating the rapid increase in cetacean strandings around the UK coastline. Shockingly, there were more than 1000 whales, dolphins and porpoises washed up dead and dying in 2018, as outlined in the CSIP (Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme) annual report to Defra. Since then the figures have been hidden by both organisations and I wanted to know why. My hunch is that there might be a direct correlation between the rise in whale strandings and the proliferation of offshore wind farm developments; being able to see the figures might shed some light on to the reasons for the increasing mortality rates. But when I asked them in October, neither the CSIP nor Defra would let me see the data. And I wonder why.... Defra point-blank refused my freedom of information request, saying it wasn't in the public interest to share the data, and I've challenged their decision on that. Watch this space because I think there might be some interesting updates on this in due course. For those of you interested in my articles on this subject, most are on my separate Medium.com blog, (click: HERE.) And that's all for now I think. So - for those of you in the UK - I hope you're enjoying the crisp winter weather, and to everyone who follows me, wherever you are: all best wishes and sincere thanks, as always, for your continued support of our campaign! Best, Jase 
|
If you appreciate what I write about, please consider showing your support by buying me a virtual coffee!
Click the button below! Thanks :) 
Archives
December 2024
|
RSS Feed