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THE SCOTTISH Government has announced a new £7.75 million funding package in support of fishermen and seafood businesses threatened by the ongoing effects of Covid-19 and EU exit.
The package includes:
£6.45 million for the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund which will provide support to eligible shellfish catchers and producers, in addition to trout farmers who have faced issues exporting to the EU;
£1 million to be made available to support the investment plans of ports and harbours faced with a loss of income through landing fees, and
up to £300,000 to assist the welfare and emergency support activities of the Fishermenâs Mission in recognition of the hardship facing people working in the sector at this time.
By Ruth Suter & Sarah Ward
Warning that Scotland faces risk of extreme drought due to climate change
Scotland is likely to experience extreme droughts over the next 20 years due to climate change, it has been warned. At the moment droughts, such as the heatwave in 2018, are on average one in 20 years but may become one in three years, researchers warned. As well as becoming more common, droughts could potentially last 2-3 months longer than in the past, according to NatureScot, with hotspot areas in the Borders, Aberdeenshire, Caithness, Orkney and Shetland. The results suggest the west coast will remain wetter than the east, but both areas are likely to experience increases in extreme droughts, with different implications for different areas based on habitat types and land use.
Scotland facing greater risk of extreme drought, study suggests 02/02/2021, 12:17 pm
Dried out peat at a Peatland Action site at North Gairn on the Invercauld Estate in the Cairngorms National Park (Lorne Gill/SNH)
Scotland is likely to face greater risk of extreme droughts over the next two decades due to climate change, research suggests.
Findings published by NatureScot shows the number of such events across the country could increase from an average of one every 20 years to one every three years, lasting up to three months longer than in the past.
The research highlights the likelihood of substantial geographic variation in patterns of extreme drought risk, including “hotspot” areas in the Scottish Borders, Aberdeenshire, Caithness, Orkney and Shetland.