By Ross Macleod, Head of Policy, GWCT Scotland
Grouse Shoot and Muirburn Licensing
Since the publication of the Wildlife and Muirburn Management (Scotland) Bill in March, we’ve been fully engaged in a review of the draft legislation with the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee. This has involved drafting a further consultation response and providing oral evidence to the Committee in June on grouse shoot and muirburn licensing.
The licensing sessions focused heavily on legal concerns, but we were reassured by statements on the record from NatureScot that our written evidence on ‘Better Regulation connection with shoot licensing, and adaptive management in respect of muirburn, have been taken on board.
On Muirburn, our principal issues concentrated on a challenge to the necessity of regulating via a definition of ‘peatland’, the lack of precision mapping for peatland at 40cm depth to help practitioners ensure compliance, the benefit of developing a single application for burning on non-peat and peat, areas of contested science, and wildfire risks.
Work on the Statutory Shoot and Muirburn Codes kicked off in September with initial meetings between stakeholders and NatureScot as the Licensing Authority. We were pleased that ‘Better Regulation’ was again observed as a key part of the process and that the codes will specifically focus on legal requirements. ‘Best Practice’ standards will be treated separately, meaning these could be developed to incentivise grouse moor managers as trusted operators. We will keep a close eye on ensuring that this happens.
The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill
With the Hunting with Dogs Bill passed into law at the beginning of the year, attention turned during the summer to the licensing provisions being established by NatureScot. Initial proposals appeared to limit the potential use of dogs for fox control to a very narrow time frame. GWCT wrote to NatureScot expressing concern about the impact of this and other potential restrictions on species conservation, pointing to the substantial body of predation research we have built up. NatureScot has agreed to meet with us to discuss flexible approaches to predator control built around evidence of outcomes.
Last ditch efforts to save snaring as a predator control method
As we suspected they might, the Scottish Government recently introduced a proposal to ban snares as part of the Wildlife and Muirburn Management Bill. It follows on from the Welsh Government’s decision to ban, despite heroic efforts by GWCT colleagues in Wales to convince the administration about the likely impacts on conservation.
We will be meeting with the Scottish Environment Minister, Gillian Martin, in one final effort to underline the risks to species recovery and demonstrate the GWCT-developed humane cable restraint (HCR), which incorporates a breakaway section and other safety features, as welfare is the primary issue. We want to convince her to ban all other traditional snares and retain the HCR for fox control under a licensing arrangement.
This would balance welfare concerns with the need to keep all the tools in the predation control box for the recovery of Curlew, Lapwing, Grey Partridge, and other vulnerable species, as well as mitigating livestock and economic loss endured by farmers.
Agricultural & Land Management sector update
As we move into the Autumn, we still await the Agriculture Bill, which will set out proposals for conditional payments to farmers for climate, biodiversity, and efficiency outcomes. The delay is causing farmers considerable anxiety as it is very difficult for them to plan for the future without some idea as to their requirements and the amount of funding support they will receive in return for achieving them. However, it is clear that completing both carbon audits and biodiversity assessments will be essential steps for farmers to undertake in return for baseline payments.
We continue to engage with the Scottish Government through the Agricultural and Rural Development Stakeholder Group and with NatureScot through their Farming with Nature external advisory group. In both these forums, we have emphasised the need for balance between food production and biodiversity stewardship, and also the development of a funding stream to encourage the formation of farmer clusters and practical advisory support. Only around 15% of farms are involved in the current agri-environment climate scheme. We need to get many more participating in the future.
On the Policy horizon
The Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill is set to continue its passage through the Scottish Parliament in the Autumn, so we will be contributing to the ongoing debate on that subject. The first meetings of the Grouse Shoot and Muirburn Code Working Groups were held in mid-September and we will be fully engaged in ensuring that workable licence processes are established over the coming months.
We also have important discussions coming up with NatureScot about building flexible licensing for predator management, led by evidence rather than arbitrary decisions on control methods or strictly defined time periods for carrying out this work. Aside from these key bits of work, we will be looking out for the Agricultural Bill consultation and completing a review of the Scottish Government’s proposals for its Biodiversity Strategy.
Get in touch with Ross Macleod – rmacleod@gwct.org.uk if you’d like to discuss policy matters further.