The coming storm
Whilst I write this, WDCS is gearing up to challenge the UK government on the future of the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation (SAC). At stake is not just this area of outstanding natural beauty, but the Moray Firth dolphins themselves and indeed perhaps the fundamental principals of marine conservation in the UK.
There's a desparate irony to this situation. Here we are, as a species, chasing down the last few million barrels of a compound that is based on the long dead remains of marine life that has gone before whilst simultaneously (some of us) try to preserve similar life for the future.
We're not so idealistically blind as to underestimate the value of oil and the staggering mountain we and others have to climb to change attitudes. After all, the world's economy is totally dependent on this stuff; our civilisation cannot function without oil and it's many derivitives - thus far.
But at what terrible cost? Putting aside the very real human cost - the human lives that are squandered globally for this destructive industry - we are losing biodiversity at a staggering rate. The Moray Firth dolphins are but the top of the pyramid, the most visible element of an ecosystem that would be damaged - destroyed? - by futher human intervention in this environment. Who cares about 130 dolphins? Well, you might care if they were the last 130 dolphins - and in fact, they are. They are the last of their kind. Extinction is forever.
If we can't save these few animals on our doorstep, what chance do we have of saving whole species? They say charity begins at home - so does conservation.
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