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Scottish Office

Answer

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what advice he has received from Scottish Natural Heritage concerning the notification of the River Tweed as a candidate Special Area of Conservation under the European Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora. [88786] Mr. Macdonald: [holding answer 28 June 1999]: Scottish Natural Heritage advised The Scottish Office that they considered there was a strong case for proposing the River Tweed as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC). However, further scientific advice from Scottish Office specialist advisers and from the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory indicated that there were reasons why, when applying the criteria for site selection specified in the Habitats Directive, the Tweed was not an outstanding candidate for SAC status for Atlantic salmon. Those reasons included the relatively poor state of the spawning salmon stock, the very substantial modification by man of the watercourse and discharges into the river environment. The Government have proposed five other rivers to the European Commission as candidate SACs for Atlantic salmon which we believe better meet the selection criteria of the Habitats Directive. The implementation of the Habitats Directive in Scotland is now a matter for the Scottish Parliament.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

88786; 336 c215-6W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

EU law Nature conservation Special areas of conservation River Tweed

Contains statistics

Yes