Question reference: S6W-04042
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 4 November 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 22 November 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s seventh quinquennial review of schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, what assessment it has made of the potential removal of schedule 5 legal protection for (a) pine martens, (b) adders, (c) basking sharks and (d) other wildlife species in Scotland that (i) have not had a relevant International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessment and (ii) are in decline but have had a relevant IUCN assessment that did not signal imminent threat of national extinction, and whether it would support a recommendation to remove schedule 5 protection for any of these species.
Answer
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) published a stakeholder consultation , including a list of provisional recommendations regarding the addition, retention, regrading or removal of each species on 8 November 2021. Those proposed recommendations do not include the removal of schedule 5 legal protection for pine martens, adders or basking sharks.
We will carefully consider the findings of the JNCC seventh Quinquennial review prior to implementing any recommendations. Before making any changes regarding species removal from schedule 5 we would have to be satisfied that there would be no detrimental impact to the individual species or to the wider biodiversity and environmental landscape in Scotland.