29 September 2007

SHETLAND’s NAFC Marine Centre is to host two Buckland lectures one on the impact of climate change and the other on the Scottish fishing industry.

This year’s Buckland professor, experienced ocean scientist Dr Bill Turrell, has included Shetland in his tour of lectures, which forms part of his professorship.

The Buckland Foundation was started by Frank Buckland “the David Bellamy of the period 1860-80” and has appointed a professor annually since 1930.

People used to flock to hear Buckland talk and he always made them aware of the importance of fisheries, its problems and of natural history in general.

Dr Turell’s lecture Climate Change and Scottish Fisheries is motivated by the growing realisation that global warming, induced by the human race, is now affecting the fishing grounds.

A scientist with FRS Marine Laboratory, in Aberdeen, he will provide a simple summary of some of the key findings of the global warming research and explain the implications for the fishing industry.

Dr Turrell said: “If we are to understand how climate change will impact our commercial fisheries, we need to first understand some of the basics of the environment within which fish live.”

During the lecture he will draw on extracts from a survey recently undertaken by FRS that gathered Scottish fishermen’s perceptions on climate change.

The lecture also places some emphasis on cod and explores possible links between the species decline, and its potential for recovery.

Fisheries development manager at the NAFC Marine Centre, Ian Napier, said: “The lecture will be repeated over two days and both are open to the general public.”

They will take place next Friday at 7.30pm and repeated the following morning at 11am.

“The Saturday morning session has been specifically arranged to suit fishermen and we hope that as many as possible will be able to attend,” Mr Napier added.