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Britain’s seabirds may be on the brink of a population crash, according
to the government’s advisers on wildlife protection. The warning from the
Nature Conservancy Council comes in its final annual report before the agency
is broken up into three separate organisations for England, Scotland and
Wales.

The NCC highlights a number of serious ecological problems. These include
pressure on estuaries from development, deterioration of uplands because
of overgrazing by sheep and deer, and increased damage to sites of special
scientific interest.

According to the NCC, the reason for the decline in the number of seabirds
is unclear. ‘Urgent research is needed but whilst the problems are being
studied, sand eel fishing should cease and, if necessary, compensation should
be paid to those whose livelihoods are endangered,’ the report says.

The report also criticised the erosion of the SSSIs. Some 430 sites
were damaged last year. ‘For the 900 or so key conservation sites in particular,
stronger measures are needed,’ says William Wilkinson, chairman of the NCC.

The NCC also protests about the slowness of the government in responding
to the council’s submissions to give extra protection to outstanding areas
of wildlife habitat by designating them special protection areas. Of 49
sites the council has proposed as SPAs, Whitehall has approved only six.

Wilkinson also used the report to attack the government’s decision to
dismember the NCC. ‘The whole episode has been an example of poor government
and reinforces my view that the workings of the Department of the Environment
need to be reviewed.’