The reaction came in reply to an announcement on 20 December by Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister, that whilst Cardigan Bay, also an EU SAC, would be spared, oil and gas exploration in the Moray Firth was likely to go ahead.
Both Cardigan Bay and the Moray Firth are SACs on account of their populations of bottlenose dolphins.
'At worst this could dramatically impact the dolphins' chance of survival in the Firth, and in combination with other threats could even drive this unique population towards extinction,' said Mark Simmonds, Director of Science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. If prospecting went ahead, the Government will have 'let us all down'.
Ironically, also on 20 December another Government department backed the idea of granting SAC status to seven other sites in British waters. DEFRA Minister Jonathan Shaw said: 'The UK has one of the richest marine environments in the world. We want to bring conservation standards at sea up to a level of those that we have on land, to give greater protection to sea life.'
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