Meeting description: We met with the Member in her role as Scottish Environment LINK Nature Champion for the Puffin. We discussed the results of the latest Seabird Census which was published in late 2023 and the recently published Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu HPAI) survey results from 2022-23. We highlighted the fact that Scotland is internationally important for seabird populations and that seabirds are under pressure from climate change invasive non-native species overfishing and marine development such as offshore wind in combination with HPAI. We explained that we are in discussions with industry and other stakeholders to try to secure nature-positive offshore wind developments as we see this as a key action needed to address the climate and nature crisis. We expressed the hope that the Biodiversity Strategy and forthcoming Seabird Conservation Strategy would contain actions which would make a real difference for seabirds such as island restoration and biosecurity and that they would be adequately resourced. We said that that we would get in touch with the Member to set up a site visit for the spring / summer months.
Topic label: Climate