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Its rare that I would publicly identify WDCS colleagues for individual actions but it would be remiss of me not to mention the outstanding work of the German WDCS team for their incredible work in taking on Nuremberg Zoo for the public's right to access information about the dolphins it keeps. Yesterday the Munch Appeals Court ruled in WDCS's favour by granting the public access to all information relating to the display and husbandry of captive dolphins at the Zoo.

You might think on first inspection that this ruling is a small matter, but its a first and will have a dramatic effect on conservation and welfare campaigns for whales and dolphins. It means that the days when cetaceans were just to be thought of as the property of a zoo or aquarium are long gone, and that such institutions have a duty of care to the public to open its doors and files to independent scientific evaluations of its data relating to dolphins in
captivity. We can now ask such questions as 'what is the keeping of dolphins in captivity doing for animals in the wild?' and, 'how successful is their captive breeding programme?'. 

A bright light has been shone into the darkness of this commercial industry which has more to do with the circus than conservation.

So to Dr. Karsten Brensing, Niki Entrup and the whole German team, - chapeau! Your actions have brought the end of dolphinaria in Europe a lot closer.

Whilst not banning outright the consumption of whale meat and products in the Faroe Islands where the health risks to children have been clearly demonstrated, it seems the Danish Government are happy to ban Marmite and Farley's rusks. Or so it seemed a few days ago.

Further to an outcry from marmite lovers, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated, 'Neither Marmite nor Vegemite and similar products have been banned by
the Danish Food And Veterinary Administration. However, fortified foods
with added vitamins, minerals or other substances can not be marketed in
Denmark unless approved by Danish food authorities.'

Now I have to declare an interest as I was brought on both products and have been known to even mix the two. And anyone pretending to be squeamish about Farley's rusks should quietly try one again. They were nutritious and delicious.

Seriously though, as the Danish authorities seek to guarantee the safety of foods in Denmark this contrasts with their abject failure to address the pollution of their own citizens in the Faroe Islands - one must ask whether we are seeing some political hypocrisy in action here?

Denmark has taken some excellent steps in banning pollutants from entering the marine environment, so come on now, go the next step and help stop unnecessary whaling once and for all.

My thanks to discussions on Facebook for highlighting the Danish Ministry statement.

In the last couple of months the UK Government has put its deregulation programme into high gear with what many regard as an attack on all regulations that may stand in the way of ‘doing business’.

In April 2011 the UK Government’s Cabinet Office launched its Red Tape Challenge. What appears on many levels to be a positive method of public consultation could, however, turn into a nightmare for nature and biodiversity conservation, as well as a method for Government to avoid its own declared aims on climate change.

The Red Tape Challenge website states that ‘the default presumption will be that burdensome regulations will go. If Ministers want to keep them, they have to make a very good case for them to stay.’ That is, unless there is a positive position taken by the public and Ministers, the regulation should be scrapped.

Now, the use of ‘democratising’ consultative techniques such as this can have benefits, but uncontrolled, they could also be a disaster.

One also has to question the premise that all such regulation is a burden and a problem that should be removed. As the Red Tape Challenge itself states ‘Good regulation is a good thing. It protects consumers, employees and the environment, it helps build a more fair society and can even save lives’,  - and so shouldn’t regulation that protects our environment and the wildlife we live amongst be see in the light of,  ‘Should stay - unless not doing what it says on the tin – and therefore should be made stronger’.

Much legislation protecting our environment has come from our commitments to EU law, and striking these down will only lead to problems. WDCS has been dealing with the inadequacies of many European governments’ interpretation of EU law for some time and any weakening of these will only be a retrograde step for cetaceans and the marine environment.

The 'Red Tape Challenge' does not appear to be just a ‘tidying up exercise’ by Government, but a root and branch assault on primary legislation. Members of the UK Coalition Government and HM’s opposition should be looking very carefully at what is underway here.

As concerned members of the public, we should definitely be aware of what is happening and be saying what we think.

You can find the relevant Red Tape Challenge sections here at ‘Environment’ and I would urge you to let the UK Government know that we don't wish to see our wildlife legislation weakened or scrapped, and, indeed, in many ways that they should be tightened up.

It looks like if we don't say something now, silence may well be interpreted as permission to burn our environmental and wildlife protection measures alongside everything else in the bonfire of the ‘red tape’. So please, don't be part of the silent majority