Petition PE444 is from Mr Allan Berry. Previously, Mr Berry submitted PE96 on salmon farming. Members will remember that that petition went to the Rural Development Committee and that the Parliament took the issue very seriously.In PE444, Mr Berry is concerned with the quantity of radioactive substances in Scottish coastal waters and marine life. He calls on the Scottish Parliament to investigate and report on the amount of such substances in the food chain and in the seafood that is harvested in different sectors of Scottish waters and on the increase in such contamination over the past decade. The petition has been prompted by Mr Berry's concerns that seawater passing north up the west coast of Scotland contains radioactive substances that have been discharged from the Sellafield nuclear facility. He has got hold of a report from Norway, which indicates that the amounts of radioactive substances there are up to 10 times higher than they were in 1994. He believes that consumers of seafood have a right to be informed of the level of such substances in the marine food chain so that they can decide for themselves.We should write to the Executive and ask it to comment on the issues that the petition raises. At this stage, we should copy the petition to the clerk to the Transport and the Environment Committee for information only.
Official Report · Committee
New Petitions
Radioactive Contamination (PE444)
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- John McAllion Lab 7
- Dorothy-Grace Elder SNP 3
- Dr Winnie Ewing SNP 2
- Phil Gallie Con 1
- John Farquhar Munro LD 1
The record
14 contributionsRecently, about 50 Irish politicians of all parties placed a huge advertisement on the issue in the major London newspapers. They blame Sellafield for the pollution of the waters adjacent to Ireland. I do not know about the evidence, but it must be considerable for 50 politicians of all parties—including ministers—to put their names to the advert.
The clerk informs me that an interactive flowchart was provided with the petition, showing the flow of waters past Sellafield, up the west coast of Scotland and up to Norway. There is no doubt that there is substance to the petition.
I remember a survey, carried out some years ago, which found heavy contamination in the River Forth. The contamination was thought to be caused by the use of coal at Longannet power station. We could widen our consideration of the petition to include other issues. Norway is on the North sea and there could well be a flow of water from coal sources at Longannet as well.
The petitioner has not expressed concern about Longannet or coal. We should stick to the subject of the petition.
A lot of interest has been shown in the marine environment around our coast—not least through the investigation by the Transport and the Environment Committee—so it would be appropriate to pass the petition to the Executive. We should follow the action suggested in the paper prepared by the clerks.
I must correct something that I said earlier. The earlier petition on salmon farming went to the Transport and the Environment Committee and not to the Rural Development Committee. That was my mistake.
The petition is from the Scottish Society for the Protection of Salmon and Sea Trout. As members know, there is also a problem with shellfish on the west coast. Orders have passed through the Parliament, almost from its beginning, on amnesic shellfish poisoning, which mainly affects queen scallops. I do not think that the Executive has yet come up with a cause for the poisoning, which was rumoured to be seaweed or pollution—we do not know. Some very curious things have been happening—off the west coast in particular. Does anyone know whether the Executive has come up with any answers about why queen scallops were in trouble off the west coast and up towards Orkney?
The clerk advises me that the petition refers to seafood in general—in all waters—so it covers the issue that you raise.
Excellent.
We will ask the Executive to address that problem too.
Thank you.
On a recent visit to Shetland, I visited—as I always do—the North Atlantic Fisheries College, which must be one of the most advanced fisheries colleges in Europe. It carries out research—for which, of course, it charges. Such a college, in our own backyard, could properly investigate the issues. It is in Scalloway.
Should we ask the college to comment on the petition?Members indicated agreement.
In this meeting
Everything on 5 Feb 2002 →- Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee Tuesday 5 February 2002 (Morning) Petitions · 6
- New Petitions Petitions · 123
- New Petitions Petitions · 52
- New Petitions Petitions · 54
- New Petitions Petitions · 21
- New Petitions Petitions · 14
- New Petitions Petitions · 1
- New Petitions Petitions · 16
- Current Petitions Petitions · 3
- Current Petitions Petitions · 3
- Current Petitions Petitions · 19
- Current Petitions Petitions · 10
- Inadmissible Petitions Petitions · 3
- Convener's Report Procedure · 4
The type of each item (debate, statement, questions, members’ business and so on) and the times shown are worked out by this site from headings, the chair’s opening words and the Official Report’s running timestamps. They are not the Parliament’s own classification. Text: the Scottish Parliament Official Report.