ADAS leads mission to tackle alien species in Scotland
Environmental Consultancy ADAS has been appointed to investigate one of the single most important threats to biodiversity in Scotland\'s waters - the invasion of \'exotic\' plants and animals.
Exotic, non-native or 'alien' species are those which have been accidentally or deliberately introduced by humans into the natural environment, such as the rainbow trout and goldfish. Once established they are very difficult and costly to control or eradicate, and pose a serious risk to the country's native flora and fauna as well as its economic interests such as fishing and farming. The slipper limpet, for example, spreads rapidly and is considered a pest on commercial oyster beds, competing as it does with other filter-feeding invertebrates.
Appointed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in late 2007, ADAS will carry out the project (funded jointly by SNH, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Scottish Government) over a six month period, culminating in the submission of a set of management recommendations in March. Comparable approaches are being undertaken in other parts of the UK. The work is a critical step in the preparation of UK water bodies to comply with the Water Framework Directive (WFD), possibly the largest piece of environmental legislation to come from the EU to date.
Designed to protect and sustain our most valuable resource, the WFD requires that aquatic environments and ecosystems are protected and improved. Early work across river basin districts in the UK has shown that alien species represent a Significant Water Management Issue (SWMI). ADAS has set up two pilot schemes in Argyll and Tay to trial a collaborative approach to tackling the problem. In each regional catchment, it will look at the feasibility of establishing an Alien Species Forum comprising stakeholders from the catchment with a role to play in species management. These will include the farming community, local business and industry, fishing and recreational groups, ports, National Parks, water companies and environmental organisations.
Philip Bull, ADAS senior consultant and project manager said: "The key to this project is its partnership approach. Integration at the catchment scale is fundamental to the WFD, and only by working closely with each of the stakeholders can we ensure that the problem of alien species is managed sustainably." If successful, the alien species management strategies could be rolled out to the rest of Scotland to ensure there is country-wide implementation of the WFD Programme of Measures.
Professor Phil Boon of SNH said: "This is an important project carried out at just the time when attention is very much focused on the environmental and economic damage that alien species can cause. We are confident that the work by ADAS will help bring us a step closer to tackling these problems in the waters in and around Scotland." ADAS has a 36 year long track record of advising the water industry as well as national and regional government on catchment management, catchment-sensitive farming, the WFD and ecological issues. It is hoped the first results will be available in March 2008.
