When we cogitate of underwater reefs , our mind stray to tropic coral wonderland , but chilly Scotland has reefs of its own . In fact , one Rand , which host gazillion of typical clams , is the largest of its variety in the cosmos . At least it was , until a dredging boat did extensive hurt that may take decades or centuries to regenerate . If there is one combat of ease to this , it is that the disaster has have the reef to be consider and its scale to be revealed .
The story began back in April , when a scallop dredger in Loch Carron , westerly Scotland , was found to havedraggedits dredging gear through the Rand twice , doing serious damage . fish in the Loch was at once banned while crusade began to assess the consequences . In the mental process , divers learned about the nature of the reef itself .
The bottom of the Loch is satiate with as many as 250 millionflame shells , a species of saltwater bivalve that looks like it used to drum for the Muppets before going aquatic . It once live in huge quantities off the Scots west coast , but large bed are now rare , in large part because of dredging like this . Other seabed creatures , such as ocean urchins and wanderer crabs also bristle . The dredging was legal at the time , but scandalization direct to a temporary ban on procedure within the Loch , which may now be made permanent .
Meanwhile , Scottish Natural Heritage divers pop to search the reef like never before , revealing its true size of it . Until this work was done , a 100 - million - scallop layer in neighboringLoch Alshwas thought to be the largest of this case , not just in Scotland but in the world . However , the Loch Carron Witwatersrand is two and a one-half time larger .
Besides the environmental value of the area , sustainable harvesting by scallop plunger has made the Loch commercially crucial , something that will be greatly harm by the dredging . Scallop dredging does not just capture target species , it also rips other animals and algae from their spot on the ocean story , often leaving them to die .
The dredging set off a heated argumentation over whether this method is ever appropriate for scallop harvesting , and if so when . The discovery of the Rand ’s size will escalate this . TheBBChas quoted Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham as saying ; " This is an astonishing find and I cerebrate that we would be wholly delinquent not to take notice of it and to do what we can to protect it . ”
