St Martin Constable Karen Shenton-Stone has lodged a proposition which, if approved, would require Environment Minister John Young to bring forward legislation banning dogs and other domestic animals from being taken to the two reefs.
She said the move would help to protect the natural wildlife at both sites.
A report in Mrs Shenton-Stone’s proposition says: ‘Members will have noticed increased coverage of the environmental protections afforded to the Ecréhous and how they could be improved in order to bring further protections to the wildlife on the reef, including the local tern and seal populations.’
She added that the site had ‘global recognition’ for its biodiversity and history and was an OSPAR marine protected area. OSPAR is the Oslo/Paris convention for the protection of the marine environment of the north-east Atlantic.
‘It is critical that the Assembly ensure that it is afforded the protections it needs to maintain its standing,’ Mrs Shenton-Stone said. ‘However, it is clear that we can go further than what is currently in place.
‘I am therefore seeking a ban on the opportunity to bring dogs and other domestic animals onto the Island’s two reefs – Les Ecréhous and Les Minquiers – in order to help minimise the negative impact that non-native animals may have on the native local wildlife.
‘By adopting this proposition, the States Assembly can send a simple and clear message to visitors that the native wildlife must be respected, and to improve conduct on the reefs while we await a new Wildlife Law.’
During a States sitting earlier this year, Deputy Young – responding to a question from Deputy Kirsten Morel – confirmed that there had been an increase in the number of breeding birds in the colony on the Ecréhous this year, and suggested that the rise might have been a result of fewer people visiting the reef due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
Mrs Shenton-Stone, in whose parish the Ecréhous sit, added: ‘The opportunity to bring dogs and other domestic animals onto the Ecréhous is already limited, but it is not universal. Information published by the then Environment Department on 23 April 2015 ‘strongly discouraged’ Jersey owners from bringing their animals onto the reefs, although this has never been followed up in law.
‘Likewise, while Ports of Jersey’s English-language code of conduct for the reef does not mention bringing animals onto the reef, the French-language equivalent explicitly states that animals cannot be landed on the reef. We can therefore see that there is a disparity in guidance, and an opportunity for the States to make it consistent.’
The proposition is due to be debated on Tuesday 8 September.
