“MSP Monica Lennon and a leading marine charity have written to ministers demanding emergency action to protect global warming fighting carbon stores in sea lochs.
The Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT) said the “extraordinary” carbon-sucking abilities of seabed ecosystems like kelp and seagrass in places like Loch Fyne were being put at risk by industrial dredging and trawling.
It comes as Sir David Attenborough’s new film about the oceans laid bare the brutal toll of commercial trawlers which tear up the sea floor indiscriminately. Less than five per cent of Scotland’s inshore seabed is legally protected from them.
Now, SIFT has identified 14 sea lochs in “urgent need” of special protection because of their enormous potential to help tackle climate change if left undisturbed. They include beauty spots such as Loch Fyne and Loch Etive in Argyll, and Loch Linnhe and Loch Sunart in the Highlands.
Labour MSP Lennon, who is leading efforts to ban destruction of the environment in her Ecocide Bill, said: “More than a decade has passed since the Scottish Government first mapped out the importance of our sea lochs for storing carbon. Why has not a single square foot of sea been protected for this purpose?”
In its letter to Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon, SIFT highlighted four key seabed ecosystems which store carbon in our sea lochs – muddy sediments, kelp and other seaweeds, saltmarshes, and seagrass. In total they store 252million tons of CO2 – more than eight times Scotland’s entire annual emissions. However their seabeds are still regularly exposed to industrial scale trawling, ripping through sediments that could trap CO2.
The Scottish Government said protecting those habitats is a “top priority” with plans for a public consultation later this year.”
– Sunday Mail UK, 22nd June 2025
