What future for Scotland’s whales and dolphins?

You can help the Scottish government decide what the future might look like!

This summer the Scottish government are giving you the opportunity to tell them what you think about their proposed marine protected area (MPA) network.

Whales and dolphins are STILL not included in the current MPAs – although they haven’t been ruled out of the process, yet.

You’ll know that for the last two years, WDC has been involved in on-going meetings and evidence building to try and ensure that whales and dolphins are part of Scotland’s MPA network. Before Christmas we handed more than 36,000 signatures over to Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Mr Lochhead, and at the same time Scottish Natural Heritage stated that the MPA network would not be complete without whales and dolphins in it!

This was great news – but we have some way to go. The Scottish government is conducting more analysis of existing data before they decide if whales and dolphins are considered in MPAs at a later stage.

In the next few weeks, Scottish Government will launch a full 16 week public consultation, which will include a section on MPAs. Shortly after this in early August, WDC will update our website with tips that we would like you to include in your consultation response.

If you can do one thing for Scotland’s whales and dolphins this year, please take the time to write a letter. Your response WILL make a difference and whales and dolphins will have safer homes if included in Scotland’s MPAs.

Sign-up to our newsletter and we’ll make sure to let you know when the consultation period begins.

Let’s make Scotland’s MPA network a world-leading one that we can be proud of!