The Scottish Wildlife Trust has joined a number of conservation charities including Whale and Dolphin Conservation and the Marine Conservation Society to express concerns about the Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s application to undertake ship-to-ship oil transfers in the open sea at the mouth of the Moray Firth.
All six organisations consider that the Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s assessment of environmental impacts was inadequate and fall far short of what is required under the EU Habitat Directive Regulations.
After major spills, such as the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, both the spilled oil and the chemicals used in the clean up remain in the environment and cause toxicity to wildlife for many years.
They argue that the proposed ship- to -ship transfers threaten nationally and internationally important sites for wildlife. The proposed location is within the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation for bottlenose dolphin and the proposed Moray Firth Special Area of Protection for a wide range of seabirds.
Several other European protected sites could be harmed by the operations including the Cromarty Firth, Inner Moray Firth and the Moray and Nairn Coast Special Protection Areas, and the Culbin Bar Special Area of Conservation.
These concerns were submitted to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who are determining the application but no feedback has been received from the Agency or the Port Authority.
It is understood that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has asked the Port Authority to provide further environmental information but it is not known whether the Agency plans to undertake any further consultation and independent evaluation of the environmental risks associated with the final proposal.
The six organisations that have expressed concerns are Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the Marine Conservation Society, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, RSPB Scotland, WWF Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland.