30 August 2006

Brightest kid on the block?

IS IT possible to justify £30m on a bridge or tunnel?

I have followed with interest the debate on a bridge or tunnel to Bressay. A year or so ago it was expected to cost around £20m, now it seems to have increased to £30m. It doesn't sound much until you try to justify it. It would appear that the expenditure is designed to improve access to Bressay (that is ripe for development). At its height, Bressay had a population of about 900. The car didn't exist and the population managed a living through crofting and fishing.

So what will the new Bressay hold in store? Perhaps an increase of 200 to 250 houses. Where will they all be built? Do the current inhabitants of Bressay relish such an influx? What impact will an increase of between 600 to 1,000 people have on the island? With the increase in houses will come an increase in traffic (is it one or two cars per household?) and a complete change of culture.

We then have the debate, should it be a bridge or a tunnel? This is now with the legal profession who will be rubbing their hands with glee, removing funds from Shetland that could be used to benefit the population. What are the opportunities available to Shetland and what will be the consequences if these opportunities are missed? In my experience,
opportunities are only on the table for a limited time and when gone, can't be recovered. From reading many of the letters in this column it would appear that the SIC needs to sit back and take stock. Doesn't seem to be the brightest kid on the block when it comes to investment.

I cannot see any justification to build either a bridge or a tunnel. First, have all the options on the mainland for the expansion of housing been explored? Second, taking the current £30m and dividing it by 250 houses means that each house is going to cost £120,000 before the cost of land or building materials. Third, I fear that Shetland might lose the opportunity of competing for the decommissioning work. Fourth, I also fear that the cost of either option will be significantly higher than the £30m. Fifth, let’s consider track records.

I do hope that someone with the figures can convince me.

Kindest regards,

Dr. John Robertson
Shetland stray
john@marspub.co.uk




29 August 2006

Think of wheelchair users

THE HIGHWAY Code is essential reading for everyone. Its rules apply to all road users.

I would like to draw readers attention to Article 217. "You do not park your vehicle or trailer on the road where it would endanger, inconvenience or obstruct pedestrians or other road users eg. where a kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users."

Most people have no experience of having to use a wheelchair personally or trying to push someone else around a town in a chair, so it is understandable that motorists may not realise the hassle they cause when they park in front of a bit of dropped kerb. Very often, there may only be the one piece of lowered kerb available eg. outside the Toll Clock Centre upper and lower doors, outside the Co-op cafe windows, etc.

Many wheelchair users and wheelchair-pushers have a limited amount of stamina or strength, and having to continually detour for long distances makes a visit to the town unnecessarily exhausting. There is also the safety aspect of people having to travel along the road in the face of traffic, desperately trying to find an accessible piece of dropped kerb to get onto a pavement.

It is not only wheelchair users that are affected; people pushing prams and buggies or towing trolleys, folks using crutches or those with any kind of mobility problems need them too.

I would implore drivers to please take note when parking (even for "just five minutes...") that they do not block access to lowered kerbs. I would dearly like to see all dropped kerbing painted red or even cast with colouring in the cement, so as to make it easier for drivers to see when parking - maybe Shetland could spearhead a national campaign?!

K Angus
karen.angus@btinternet.com




26 August 2006

Struggling with fish farms

AN AMAZING amount of coincidences here! I was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland in 1941 and my family immigrated to Canada in 1952. I joined the Canadian Army in 1960 and served overseas in Germany 1962 to 1966. I married in Germany and now have two daughters living in Schneverdingen, Kreis Soltau.

At the moment I am retired in Canada, but do two things that connect me to Shetland. I work as relief Lighthouse Keeper on the West Coast of Canada, usually in the winter. The helicopter that takes me to these stations is the same model as your Oscar Charlie, the S61N.

In the summer, I work as a charter boat operator, fishing for salmon and chartering eco-treks. My best friends are commercial salmon fishermen, mostly of Swedish and Norwegian extraction, with some Icelanders thrown in for good measure! I am part of the Prince Rupert Environmental Society, Save our Skeena Salmon Society and Commodore of the North Coast Sailing Association.

We are struggling with Pan Fish at the moment, who are trying to gain a foothold in our Skeena River system to put in fish farms. We have very healthy returns of Sockeye, Pink, Coho,Chum, Chinook and the sea-going Rainbow trout, the Steelhead, all going up the Skeena to reproduce in, besides others, the Babine Lake system.

I recently donated a charter to two Norwegians, one an investigative reporter and his co-worker, his camera man. We appeared in a Norwegian newspaper about the same time as one of our Native Indians was over in Norway, appealing to the Pan Fish people to cease and desist with trying to put in salmon farms in the Skeena River system.

The problem is many fold, with the introduction of Atlantic Salmon to the Pacific area, a foreign species, the advantage to the salmon farms is the fact that they put on weight faster than our Pacific Salmon, so, faster profit.

For some reason our government likes aquaculture, so the fish farms have a license to scare off whales, shoot seals and sea lions and introduce chemicals into our waters that damage many of our crustaceans and also are a prime breeding ground for sea lice that attack our smolts trying to make it from our lakes and rivers to the open ocean.

The First Nations people are having problems with their clam beds, that have been there for a few centuries, ever since the fish farms moved in. If a private person in Canada was to do any of the above, the penalties are severe. We are trying to persuade our government to put the fish farms on the land, out of our waters and it is the first time in B.C. history, to my
knowledge, that all the commercial fisherman, all sport fisherman, most of our First Nations People and most of our ecological societies have ever agreed upon one subject!

I just returned from a five day charter with a small family that were entranced with our local wildlife. We showed them porpoises, Humpback whales, seals, Bald Eagles, sea lions, Killer Whales and especially the bears fishing in the falls of a river into the sea. Ifour salmon runs fail, all these creatures will be affected, not just us, because they depend on our salmon as well!

My web site is www.seatreks.ca and my e-mail is dave@seatreks.ca

Cheers,
Dave Anderson.




22 August 2006

Tackling high fuel bills

I READ the latest letter on fuel prices with some interest. I'd like to draw people's attention towards an application of Brown's Gas (a mixture of monatomic hydrogen and oxygen, electrolysed from water) as a vehicle fuel, through this http://hytechapps.com/aquygen/hhos link.

A Google search on 'Brown's Gas' will reveal many more links, of which this one -http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/RhodesGas/index.html - is, I feel, one of the most interesting.

Brown's Gas has been known about for quite some time - but Denny Klein in particular seems to have been able to make it take the place of diesel fuel, with none of the high-tech and complicated downside associated with stored hydrogen, fuel cells and electric motors for vehicle propulsion. If what he says is true, it should be possible to generate Brown's Gas on a local basis, and use it in converted diesel engines. It would have the advantages of being zero-pollution, untaxable, creatable on-demand and available in unlimited amounts.

I intend to trial one of Klein's systems in the near future. I tend to believe in personal - rather than national - solutions to problems, and the problem of fuel supply is the most urgently pressing matter of the day. If other Shetland News readers feel the same way and are interested in looking into the idea, the links and suggested Google search above would be the starting point.

"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." - Chinese Proverb

Regards,
Philip Andrews
philipfaeunst@aol.com




 21 August 2006

Shurely shome mishtake

IN YOUR recent report about Derek Leask's departure from Shetland Catch you wrote: "Catch chairman John Goodlad said the Mr Leask's decision to leave the firm had nothing to do with recent events."

Have the Marines been told about this?

Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Wills
dunter@seabirds-and-seals.com




21 August 2006

Your radios are safe

I have it on good authority, that this item about Dixons/Currys abandoning analogue radios is misleading.

With something like 85 per cent of the population still listening on FM, I think this must be highly unlikely.

I would say, rest assured, you won't lose your important FM services, (very important to remote areas) for a long time yet.

Ken Fletcher
stormlamp@btinternet.com




19 August 2006

Seals need protection

I READ with interest your article on the drop in common seal numbers in Shetland. I was particularly interested in the statement attributed to Hansen Black, chief executive of Shetland Fishermen's Association, who said seals were no threat to the fishing industry, and suggested a lack of fish in inshore waters might be responsible for the decline in commons.

There is growing concern that over-fishing and global warming are reducing or displacing fish stocks including numbers of sand eels which are crucial to the North Sea food chain. It has also been reported that more pods of orcas are making welcome visits to Shetland to make a meal of a seal - I believe there is even a bit of a tourist trade in watching these whales as they feed close inshore. Seals are under pressure for various reasons both natural and human influenced.

Sadly not all sectors of the Scottish fishing industry are as well informed as Mr Black and seals are deliberately persecuted by humans in other parts of Scotland. The Conservation of Seals Act 1970 protects seals from bullets as effectively as a lace umbrella protects from a downpour. For most of the year and around most of our coastline it is quite legal, so long as the correct calibre of rifle is used, to shoot seals. Shooters do not have to justify the shooting and no-one records the number of seals killed each year. One salmon netsman at Hopeman boasted of killing 91 seals at one net in just one season. Even during the seal pupping seasons, fishery interests can continue shooting seals without the need for a license or special permission.

Mr. Black said he "would have no argument with a year round ban on shooting seals." If our politicians have half the commonsense and knowledge of marine ecology shown by Hansen Black they will move quickly to make it illegal to shoot seals around the coast of Scotland. If numbers are falling as fast as the recent Sea Mammal Research Unit survey suggests it is essential that seals are given proper legal protection.

Yours sincerely,

John F. Robins,
For Save Our Seals Fund (SOSF)
sosf@jfrobins.force9.co.uk




17 August 2006

Time for a change

I HAVE to agree with Vic Thomas on all the points he made in his recent letter to the Shetland News.

I'd have thought it far better to put Shetland money into 'smaller' things that will directly help Shetland (such as pier renovations at Scalloway, a CAT scanner for the Gilbert Bain Hospital), than into large projects with uncertain payoffs.

Projects such as the new museum (placed where the first decent storm will probably cause inundation of the ground floor), and funding of the Norröna (which seems to be something of a white elephant, due to the nature of the climate in its main
area of operation) really should have been discouraged as unwise.

Certainly, it does seem to be time for a change of personnel in the Shetland Islands Council. We simply can't afford to put up with its members being pilloried every so often in magazines such as Private Eye, and in the yearly Up Helly-Aa skits.

And if the probity and/or competence of some of its members is genuinely in doubt, they should be replaced as soon as possible.

Regards,

Philip Andrews
philipfaeunst@aol.com

 

17 August 2006

Democracy or Tavish?

AFTER watching Tavish for a while, taking notice of the impressions he tries to create and the information he leaves out, "hypocrite" simply doesn't cut it as a strong enough a word.

I have pointed out before that it was the EU that allowed the air fares and they could take them away over the head of Mr Scott. He tried to take all the glory for himself when it was going ahead yet when things turn pear shaped it somehow is someone else's fault.

The argument presented by BA seems perfectly legitimate to me. When will a single solitary Liberal Democrat minister, never mind their party, do something none of them have ever done before and take responsibility for their party's actions?

A Liberal Democrat is the transport minister yet he can't even get air costs down. Why? Because they can't even offer simple fundamental democracy, they give an EU Commission dictatorship authority over and above the Scottish electorate and therefore over and above democracy.

The people of Shetland need to decide whether they believe in democracy or if they are willing to sacrifice it permanently to keep Tavish Scott in his well paid position.

Scotty Dyble
rebelpride@toucansurf.com




16 August 2006

Long live democracy

IN THE words of Victor Meldrum: "I don't believe it!"

Our totally spendaholic councillors (well, some of them anyway) have secretly pledged more of Shetland's public funds to bail out the stinking, sinking Smyril Line. If it wasn't so serious in terms of the impending huge loss of yet more Shetland dosh it would be a good script for a Brian Rix farce.

I thought years ago I had seen it all when millions of pounds were thrown into the white elephant at Wilsness just as the oil industry was entering into decline. Then some years later the council chucked mega millions down a hole called aquaculture without any serious thoughts about what might be or not be best for Shetland. In between all this they were spending money on all sorts of consultancies - for what?

Then came the million £ joke that is the new library! I mind little old ladies & children walking past the old St Ringans Kirk, asking or suggesting that - the old kirk wasn't as big as the old library so where are all the books going? Only an idiot couldn't see that the building wasn't big enough! Then last but not least & one of the best ones yet (fanfare of trumpets) - The Norröna!

There is a very serious side to all this and that is the question of accountability!

The few people making the big decisions, be they council officials, consultants, contracted specialists or elected members must surely have some responsibility for the actions they take? Especially where large amounts of public finances are involved & when they go down the pan big style. It would seem that this is not the case and a select few seem to be able to do what they like, when they like, using as much money as they like - all under closed doors or a delegated authority claim.

There are people making decisions in Shetland, involving very large sums of public money that should not be allowed to buy bus tickets. They are responsible for wasting millions of £s on projects that were extremely risky even by a gambler's standard, hiring experts for advise that wasn't worth the paper their recommendations were written on, setting up deals with no comeback when the so called professional advice was crap and have got away with it for years.

I really hope that the changes to the next local council elections encourage a raft of new folk to stand for the council, so we no longer have to rely on disaffected or retired former SIC managers/officials, captains of industry there to pursue vested interests and people with secret agendas.

Long live democracy!

Vic Thomas
Sandwick
vic.thomas@btopenworld.com




15 August 2006

Seal decline no surprise

KNOWING one person working at a salmon farm who takes great delight in shooting seals and considers it a sport and another person who witnessed the emptying of a seal cage when the netful of dead seals was mistaken for a dead whale, it is hardly surprising that seal numbers are in decline.

Why would David Sandison know what is going on? Who would tell him they hadhad a great day shooting seals? I would suggest that his response of "I would absolutely deny that the industry was targeting seals" is a ridiculous statement.

There are probably other factors involved but seal slaughtering is definitely one of them.

Regards
Sarah McBurnie
SeeShetland@aol.com




12 August 2006

Mothers have been abandoned

INTERESTING what your MP has to say about the Child Support Agency, because many of the mothers trapped in this scheme actually gave up part of their suit in the courts for spousal maintenance to enable this agency to work and have literally been
abandoned, by the look of this report.

How are they supposed to reinstate their maintenance, let alone the child's?

I am currently waiting on a hearing in the Court of Appeal reference consequential damages which may help your readers. It will be between 1 November and 1 March 2007.

Your readers may be interested in this web site: www.babiesforjustice.co.uk/  They may wish to add their stories or just read about other cases. It is not a crank organisation and there are no commitments of any kind required but your readers may well feel not so isolated.

Regards
Denise Rowley
DRowley06@aol.com



7 August 2006

Swap Norröna for NorthLink

SURELY the marketing strategy should have been worked out at the outset, not as a last ditch stand on saving the service.

Shetland was missing from the advertising from the very beginning. I seem to remember pointing this out in a letter around three and a half years ago and again maybe a year later. Now it appears from the following statement that marketing is being considered.

Quote: "Last month the development trust decided to pump a further £500,000 directly into Smyril, and spend around £200,000 helping the company market Shetland to potential passengers." Unquote.

Maybe the obvious solution to the whole problem would be to swap the Norröna for one of the NorthLink ferries. Then Shetland wouldn't have the problems with lack of cabin space (therefore turning the ferry into a virtual refugee boat) and Smyril wouldn't need to attract the outlandish number of passengers to make it viable.

Unfortunately one begins to suspect the motives behind investment in foreign ventures i.e. Smyril Line, Icelandic gut factories, etc as being a way for 'Da Cooncil' to get star treatment somewhere on the planet paid for out of the public purse.

Regards
Sarah McBurnie
Unst
SeeShetland@aol.com




3 August 2006

Who needs state of the art?

AT LAST the SIC has got an excellent idea - a backup plane for emergencies. But John Morton of SAS says it won't work. It has to be "state of the art".

Where is he coming from? Anybody ill or injured needing treatment on the mainland, they and their families would be happy to get there in any aircraft.

The "culture" he's talking about does not relate to these islands. We survive the best way we can. In a matter of life and death who cares about "state of the art".

I am sure that NHS Shetland would provide everything required for a patient to the best of their ability, which is better than nothing.

And as a PS - of course we can afford a "state of the art" plane. After all, we can afford the Norröna. That's a drop in the ocean compared to saving the lives of Shetlanders.

Carole Radford
carole.radford@tiscali.co.uk