Cromarty Rising

It’s official – there’s only one anchorage proposed now – we’ve been aware of this rumour for a long time, but this is from Intertek’s Appropriate Assessment scoping document. It doesn’t mean we’ve won – it just means that they have realised that the 4 anchorages off the south sutor are not fit for purpose […]

The other night we highlighted the boundary of the area protected for dolphins in the Cromarty Firth. On the other side of the planet, we read about the plight of Maui’s dolphin – critically endangered with only around 63 individuals left (see: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/cetaceans/about/hectors_dolphin/mauis_dolphin/). It only occurs of New Zealand’s north island and is vulnerable to […]

The Scottish Government has recently taken it on itself to publish it Ministerial Correspondence on STS, so over the next while days we will be sharing that with you. Sadly its not very exciting, but shows the common theme in the correspondence “its nothing to do with us”. To show that we will happily publish all […]

Last week we prepared and sent a detailed letter to the First Minister – today we received a lacklustre response from Paul Wheelhouse along the lines of “its nothing to do with us”. He actually claims the power to grant an EPS licence is also devolved – this seems to be contrary to what our […]

We had a great day at Holyrood yesterday….photos below press release. Interesting & well informed debate, not often you can say that, however you can watch it all here at http://www.scottishparliament.tv. There is also an excellent synopsis on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39770234 Also coverage on BBC Scotland Highland News and nationally on Good Morning Scotland […]

Here’s an interesting little graphic from SEPA’s interactive online map. It simply shows the location of the Special Area of Conservation for dolphins (the green hatched box).  You will note that the existing transfer site at Nigg jetty (marked “fabrication yard”) is outwith the SAC. The new STS at sea sites are very much within […]

In case you didn’t see the comment, an update from Nairn prospective councillors views on STS.  Laurie Fraser, Liz McDonald, Ritchie Cunningham and Michael Green have all declared themselves staunchly AGAINST STS. Stephen Fuller who was not mentioned in the comment, is also a long time opponent and Louis McIntosh has declared opposition. Out of the other […]

Not so much of an oil leak, more a reminder that this Tuesday we are heading to Holyrood for the postponed ship to ship debate in the Scottish Parliament. We have hired a bus – there will be pick up’s from Nairn and Inverness – the debate starts at 5pm, however, we have called a press […]

For those of you who didn’t make it to the hustings earlier in the week we can official announce that ALL candidates are standing on a ticket opposing Ship to Ship Oil Transfers at sea. We welcome this. Of the five candidates that made it to the hustings (Cllr Barclay didn’t attend and the labour […]