Dear MARMAM colleagues The Scottish Government is currently going through a lengthy scientific process to designate a coherent network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Scotland's waters, from 0 - 200 nm. The Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) welcomes this process and has been working hard to collate and contribute existing scientific data on cetacean critical habitat to feed into the process. You can find out more about the developing Scottish MPA network at this website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/marine-environment/mpanetwork. Minke whales, Risso's dolphins and white-beaked dolphins have been determined as nationally important species that could benefit from MPAs and as a result selected by the government as key species to drive the MPA process forward. Until this week we were hopeful that these cetacean species would be an important driving component of the network, and that other species such as bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises would later benefit from site designation. However, the Scottish Government is now suggesting that cetaceans might not be included in the network at the current time, or could be dropped from the MPA network all together. The decision to exclude cetaceans from the Scottish MPA network has not yet been made, so it's not too late to influence this. But the decision will be made in coming weeks, so your help could make a difference as to whether cetaceans are included in the MPA network here. We therefore ask if you would please sign on to the following statement (we only need your name, affiliation and country): "The following scientists and MPA practitioners, managers and experts believe that MPAs can be an effective tool for cetacean conservation and wholly support the timely inclusion of cetaceans and cetacean habitat in the Scottish MPA network by the end of 2012." [please give] Name Affiliation Country Please email me these details if you would like to be added to the list that will be presented to the Scottish Government. Thank you for your urgent consideration! All the best, Sarah Dolman WDCS Head of Policy for Scotland Sarah.dolman@wdcs.org<mailto:Sarah.dolman@wdcs.org> **