Coastguard Closures

[NickB]

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As most of you probably already know, the government is planning to shut all but two of Scotland's Coastguard stations. Under the plans only Aberdeen would remain as a 24-hour station, while either Shetland or Stornoway would operate during daylight hours only. The 'modernisation plan' will use as yet unspecified 'modern technology' to increase efficiency and ministers have assured a cynical seafaring public that no lives will be put at risk. Just cast your mionds back to the widespread internet outages at the end of last year and ask yourselves 'what if . . .'

In the last eight days Stornoway Coastguard have co-ordinated two major rescues in the Minch - the crew of a downed Tornado plucked to safety last week and on Monday the 14 crew of a French fishing boat aground on Rum in a gale, all 16 lives saved by the SAR helicopter based at Stornoway. There has been no commitment to the retention of the helicopter at Stornoway, and with the scrapping of the Stornoway and Shetland based tugs it is surely only a matter of time before lives are lost or environmental damage done. These tugs are where they are for good reason - ever increasing tanker traffic through the Minch and increasing oil exploration West of Shetland.

There is no doubt that this measure is driven by accountants, not seafarers, and I believe it should be opposed bitterly. Maggie 'only' dismantled our manufacturing industry - this government seem determined to dismantle huge swathes of the country's infrastructure, and once gone it is unlikely to return.

What do our local seafarers - fishermen, ferry passengers, commercial operators, yachtsmen et al - think about the proposals?