A NEW law will help to end the “blight” of raptor persecution on Scottish grouse moors, a minister has said.
Environment Minister Gillian Martin said the new licensing scheme would target wrongdoers who give grouse moors “a bad name”.
On Thursday, MSPs debated the general principles of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill, which would regulate the grouse shooting industry and bring in a code of practice for land management.
It would also restrict the practice of muirburn – the controlled burning of heather and other plants.
Martin said Holyrood had a “proud record” of protecting the natural environment, urging MSPs to back the bill at Stage one.
She said the issue of raptor persecution “has not gone away” since the independent Werritty review at the end of 2019.
Professor Alan Werritty had said a licensing scheme should be introduced if there is no “marked improvement” in the ecological sustainability of grouse moor management within five years.
She referred to the disappearance of Merrick, a satellite-tagged golden eagle which vanished in the Scottish Borders on Monday.
Martin said: “Grouse moors can be successfully managed in a way that doesn’t negatively impact on the environment or biodiversity, and a great many of them are acting responsibly.
“But we need to end the blight of raptor persecution that takes place on the few estates that give the sector a bad name.”
She said the licensing scheme aimed to change the culture of grouse moor management while allowing law-abiding moors to continue.
However, the Conservatives’ Rachael Hamilton said the legislation would have a serious impact on the rural economy.
She said: “We want to reiterate that we condemn the persecution of raptors, but (the bill) goes way beyond that objective.”
Hamilton said the minister would need to make changes to the plans in order to create a workable system and questioned whether each case of raptor persecution was connected to grouse moors.
She added: “The bill ignores rural voices and goes much further than its intentions.”
Following the debate, MSPs backed the general principles of the bill by 82 votes to 32.
