I made a case, as did Alasdair Allan, Liam McArthur and Scotland’s First Minister, for the Stornoway and Lerwick coastguard stations to remain open on a 24-hour basis, all year round, because that was the right argument to make, based on the shipping concerns and the needs and requirements of the oil and gas industry—and the renewables industry as it emerges.In one of the many submissions that were made by the save Shetland coastguard campaign, whose petition attracted 13,000 signatures—the highest-ever number of signatures to a petition in support of a campaign in Shetland—Simon King, the wildlife cameraman, author and presenter, made the environmental argument and went on to say of the coastguard stations:“If they were to disappear, the safety of all who live on or visit...