The UK Greens want to bring back plans to designate Scottish waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary.
The party’s proposed “cetacean” sanctuary is one of several marine policies in its Scottish election manifesto published on Tuesday.
Attempts by the Greens to create a whale and dolphin sanctuary as an amendment to last year’s Scottish Marine Bill were voted down by the other parties.
Although, hunting and killing whales and dolphins is banned in British waters, the amendment would have meant all planning applications at sea would have to take dolphin and whale habitats and routes into account.
The sanctuary would cover all of Scotland’s inshore and offshore waters out to the 200-mile territorial limit, and would introduce a presumption of protection for whales and dolphins while in those waters.
Eleanor Scott, the party’s co-convener, said: “Scottish waters provide one of the best whale-watching opportunities in Europe.
“The designation of the whole of Scotland’s seas as a cetacean sanctuary would assist Scotland’s growing whale and dolphin-watching businesses, and would provide much needed support for remote and coastal communities that rely on eco-tourism for much of their income and employment.”
The Greens have also pledged to end the legal shooting of seals, block ship-to-ship oil transfers, end the dumping of waste at sea and work with other countries to end global whaling.
Source: The Press Association