Three dolphins, Bubbles, Spirtle and Jigsaw, swim together, a majestic trio of

muscle, blubber and power. Their day consists of moving through the cold waters of
the Cromarty Firth, opening their gullets to salt water and the cool scales of salmon.
Noises echo through the water as they jump in a flounder of excitement.
The tourists on the beach, their ice-creams and cameras in hand, clap for them.
Small children point and pull at their parents' trousers legs to look over, guessing the
next area of water where the bottlenose might breach. The town is alive with people,
many attracted to this place because of the sea and its beauty. Seagulls caw, the
waves wash against the beach, sandcastles wait for their salty destruction.
Compared to much of the Highlands, Cromarty is a rich place. This is mainly
because of oil. The industry has existed here since the 70s, and is still very prevalent
today. The energy it creates is evident everywhere: cars, buses, lorries, boats,
houses, even my grandmas lawnmower. The wildlife in the area has adapted to the
presence of industry, but there are concerns for its future an application has
recently been submitted to the Coastguard Agency which reflects the views of big
industry in the 21st century.
The local port authority has applied for a licence to start ship-to-ship oil transfers
across open water sites around the firth. This will involve transferring 180,000 tonnes
of oil per year from large tankers to smaller ones. Around 48 transfers are expected
per year, each lasting a whole day. There are huge environmental risks, but wont
jobs be created, employing people from surrounding communities? The north of
Scotland will continue to be a hub for the oil industry, bringing wealth to the area and
slightly uplifting the worries of many affected by the price crash. Plus, does this
proposal not satisfy our need for petrol cars, plastics and heated homes?
No. Developments like these should not compromise our environment. There is a
basic dichotomy between the need for oil and truly looking after our natural world.
And there is no doubt with climate change a reality that we have to cut down our use
of fossil fuels.
The firth is a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protected Area, a Nature
Conservation Marine Protected Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a
National Nature Reserve. Dolphins and seabirds feed and breed in these protected
waters. Unbelievably, oil transfers are set to take place in the exact spot where a
humpback whale surfaced only a few weeks ago. Humpbacks are the size of lorries.
They are beautiful, peaceful animals, and to have one in the waters of Scotland is a
rarity and an incredible sight. These creatures do not warrant disturbance or danger.
Although rare, oil spills from ship-to-ship transfers can still happen. Even a small spill
can have absolutely devastating and lasting impacts. There are other dangers too;
millions of tonnes of contaminated ballast water will be discharged from the tankers
into the surrounding seas. Toxic chemicals and non-native species may be released.
A big salmon will eat a fish that has eaten another fish that might have eaten a large
glug of those toxins. And one of us might eat that salmon with our scrambled eggs
on toast.

Its time we started realising that our environment is not a separate entity, 'out there.
We live, breathe, and survive in it. And we cannot function without it. We have to
respect it.
Supporting the environment has its economic perks too. It is estimated that the oil
transfers will create 750,000 a year for the port authority. We, in Cromarty, will not
benefit from this income. On the other hand, the tourist industry benefit to the area is
a great deal more, with dolphin watching trips alone worth 4 million. This will be
reinvested back into the local economy. So the somewhat 'romanticised notion of
saving the lives of Bubbles, Spirtle and Jigsaw has complete economic reasoning.
There has been uproar from people across the whole of Scotland about this
proposal. And yet, the threat that this will happen is still present. At what point will the
local community and the environment be flattened by bureaucracy, money and
power? We must, as individuals, friends, families and communities, take a stance.
And we must be supported by the government by the people we vote for to
represent us. We need to make decisions locally, where these decisions can
overturn centralised government choices. Local communities must have the decisive
veto.
This is not a local issue, relevant only to those living in the north of Scotland. This is
a local example of a global issue and is symptomatic of what is happening all across
the world. People are being thrown off their land as bulldozers demolish their
livelihoods to make way for oil pipelines. Communities are uprooted and
disregarded. Living creatures and ecosystems are destroyed. And all the while our
ice caps are melting, our sea levels are rising, and our futures become increasingly
insecure.
This is not idealism. This is realism. We are changing our world, and we must
respond. We need infrastructure and money and a thriving economy; Im not
suggesting we overturn capitalism. But we need to do things differently. I urge you to
think about this, to think about the future, to think about what might happen when the
last drop of oil is taken, when the last fish dies. Industry needs to be part of the
solution, and not cause the problem. We cannot eat oil, money or power. Dolphins
cant either.