Scottish wild bird high pathogenicity: avian influenza response plan

9. Licensing/ Ringing Suspensions.

If considered an appropriate response during an outbreak, there are mechanisms in place for suspension of ringing and research activities. Any such recommendation will be made with a view to limiting any additional harm that the activity might do to a population or species that has been, or could be, impacted by HPAI. Any decision to suspend ringing or other research activities will be taken by the SNCBs in consultation with the BTO who administer the ringing scheme, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the RSPB and other interested parties. The decision to recommend a suspension will be made in the light of best information available relating to the severity and geographical spread of the outbreak and the best estimate of the current risk to the different taxonomic groups identified by the BTO in their advice to ringers on operating during the HPAI outbreak. The recommendation will require ratification by SNCB senior managers.

A standardised process is in place for assessing applications that may allow exemption for activities that may otherwise have been suspended, should an outbreak escalate. This process is based on Annex 4 of the “NatureScot Scientific Advisory Committee Sub-Group on Avian Influenza Report on the H5N1 outbreak in wild birds 2020-2023^[19]” which provides guidance on permissible ringing and research activities. This guidance will be used to assess whether, because of their high conservation or scientific value, particular activities should be exempt from any such suspension or other restrictions placed on ringing and research activities by NatureScot.

Any additional risk to wild birds that the activity might generate (e.g., introducing HPAI to a colony where it is absent, increasing the chance of HPAI transmission from bird to bird or stressing birds to the point that they succumb to HPAI when they might otherwise have survived) is assessed through the habitats regulation assessment (HRA) process. The judgement about the level of risk arising from the activity will be made on the assumption that any risk mitigation detailed in the research proposal will be carried out, and that all risk mitigation processes detailed in BTOs advice to ringers is also fully implemented. In addition to this, further risk mitigation may be required by land managers in relation to operating at particular sites (e.g., islands supporting seabird breeding colonies). Again, the assumption made for the purposes of this assessment is that all of these requirements will be adhered to.

The scientific importance of the work being undertaken will also be assessed. Examples of important work might be long term datasets that follow population trends, regular sampling that allow estimates of productivity or adult or juvenile survival or studies directly related to the understanding and management of the HPAI outbreak.