That is the warning from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), the leading body representing deer management professionals in Scotland.
The Natural Environment Bill, which is about to enter Stage 2 at Holyrood, will give NatureScot unprecedented new powers to intervene in deer management if they feel doing so would promote ‘nature restoration’.
The new 6ZB power affords the regulator significant latitude to demand, alter or reject deer plans and order higher culls if they consider a party is not meeting the requirements of a published plan or strategy.
If passed, NatureScot could even commission others to carry out the culls and bill the landholder, with the landholder having to go to the Scottish Land Court to appeal a case.
Division and inequality
The SGA believes the new power is divisive and will lead to court disputes and job losses as well as an entrenchment of inequality across the deer sector.
Furthermore, the body, which has trained over 1100 deer managers in recent years, does not believe the power will solve the problem of Scotland’s oft quoted 1 million deer.
Currently 80% of Scotland’s annual cull is carried out by private landholdings, usually operating at very fragile cost margins or even losses.
“NatureScot already has the power it needs to intervene in evidence-led ways. What this new power (which is much more subjective) will do, is erode the trust of the very individuals on-the-ground which Scottish Government will need to meet its targets.
“Those people are our trained deer managers,” said Professional wildlife manager, Graeme Sinclair.
Fundamental questions unanswered
SGA Deer Group member, George Macdonald added: “During this entire Bill debate, no one has answered the question: at what density of deer can a landholder justify retaining a full-time deer manager job and a family home?
“Our members have already upped their culls in recent years. They are playing their part but no one can afford to shoot themselves out of a job. If people are forced to cull on some subjective premise that doing so might restore something, it will be very damaging to the sector.
“Scottish Government and NatureScot should be incentivising greater deer management, not pushing people to the brink through unprecedented enforcement.”
Removal of new 6ZB power
The SGA is calling for the new 6ZB power to be removed from the Bill in its entirety, with the Stage 2 amendment deadline falling on Thursday.
As well as fears for in-community jobs, the SGA believes the new powers will be used only selectively, causing resentment over inequality and fairness.
“This new power is most likely to be used in the uplands, where there has already been significantly higher voluntary culls. At the same time, it is likely that landholders who carry out no deer management at all in Scotland, will be allowed to continue without repercussion,” explained SGA Deer Group member, Lea MacNally.
“The vast majority of Scotland’s 1 million deer are now in the lowlands and around our cities yet you have a situation where our largest council has a no deer-cull policy.
“If this power is going to be effective, it must be equally applied. Will NatureScot slap a nature restoration order on Glasgow City Council, for example?
“We know the answer. The new power, therefore, won’t address Scotland’s deer problem unless it is applied in all areas of the lowlands and peri-urban areas where the major problems exist.”
The SGA says deer managers need security and incentives and believe independent panels should be used to guide solutions and solve disputes.
