A DAY OUT IN EDINBURGH.

Don Staniford’s young legal team, who are doing such a sterling job defending the freedoms of real Scottish interests with Don and John D. Campbell KC in the centre and our Ewan Kennedy on the right.

This is an update on the Appeal of Don Staniford heard in Edinburgh last week as he resists attempts by large multinationals to grasp powers over our seas and even over our airspace. Ewan Kennedy, our regular legal eagle, reports.

MOWI versus Staniford. A Day Out in Edinburgh

As a supporting act, I have to be extremely careful not to write anything that could be seen as an attempt to influence the judges, or that could be misconstrued as such by the extremely watchful lawyers on the other side, who haven’t hesitated so far to draw attention to anything they’ve spotted on social media that they didn’t like. With the unlimited resources of a huge multinational behind them, they have plenty of time to read anything one writes about the case. Because of this, it was a great relief to find that one of the main trade journals published a report on the case just hours after we had emerged from the appeal court for our group photograph. Their reporter, Gareth Moore, was sitting just behind me in court, taking copious notes, the kind of respectable, old-style journalist now missing from much of the major newspapers. I reckon he’s done a pretty decent job, and his report can be accessed here:

https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/don-staniford-mowi-scotland-sheriff-appeal-court/mowi-gives-ground-over-ban-on-activist/1660423

As you’ll see in the report, after several hours of argument by the KCs on both sides, plus some good forensic questioning from the three appeal sheriffs, MOWI abandoned three major parts of their case against Don Staniford. 

First, they have given up on trying to create fifteen metre exclusion zones around their fish farms. In essence, had they managed to do this they would have privatised sections of the ever changing, ever moving surface of the water that ebbs and flows along the west coast. For sure there are sections of the sea, such as around Faslane, where the Westminster Government has legislated to keep us away from the nuclear submarines, but from the outset of this case our team have never believed that a Scottish court would put a giant Norwegian battery farmer in the same position. Under the detailed scrutiny the case got on 1 February, MOWI accepted the legal reality and gave up.

Second, they have abandoned their attempt to obtain an order against Don Staniford from flying drones over their farms and taking photographs. This would have prohibited him, and by extension anyone else with an interest, from capturing images of what’s going on. It’s a simple matter of fact that Don has never owned or operated a drone, and because of this his answer to this part of the case was a blunt denial. Ignoring his offer to prove this, the Oban sheriff had nonetheless granted an interdict against him. Had the order stayed in place, there’s no doubt that steps would have been taken to prevent others from using this entirely safe and legal way of exposing, for example, the appalling mortalities in our waters, with tens of millions of mature salmon taken off for disposal by road as toxic waste each year.

The operation of drones is something that has exercised the attention of government, and there are very clear rules about them, whether used for commercial, recreational, or, as here, environmental purposes. We are not allowed to infringe other people’s rights to privacy, for example. Once again, excluding environmentalists uniquely, from an activity anyone else can carry on within the law, seemed legally unsustainable to our team.

Thirdly, MOWI agreed to what might look like a technical change of wording in the part of the case that remains active. Don Staniford has freely admitted kayaking out to fish farms and climbing onto the walkways to take photographs. MOWI do not aver that he has caused any damage in the course of doing this. He has sent the results, where appropriate, to the police and governmental agencies and has published them for years on social media and in the press. The part of the case that remains live concerns whether or not the ownership of private property trumps his claimed right to observe and report on things like animal cruelty. 

MOWI were seeking an order stopping Don not only from doing this himself, but also from “encouraging others” to do so. The significance of this becomes clear when we reflect that a permanent interdict effectively creates a personalised criminal offence, violation of which can result in an immediate sentence of imprisonment, completely without the usual safeguards of background, health and social work reports. I don’t need to remind readers of this site of recent cases where people have been imprisoned in Scotland in similar circumstances. To put anyone in a situation where he could be jailed for what might simply be a social chat with a third party would be simply monstrous. During yesterday’s hearing, MOWI’s counsel agreed to drop these words from the remaining part of the case.

We now await the ruling on this remaining issue, which can be expected in about six weeks.

It’s unfortunate that this case has now been hanging over Don’s head since late 2021, and huge thanks are due to our wonderful group of professional lawyers, who have put in hundreds of hours of work with no expectation of a proper reward. At one point during the hearing, MOWI’s counsel, Jonathan Barne KC,  suggested that the reason the lawyers wanted to get a hearing in Oban was to help raise publicity for Don Staniford. His counsel, John D Campbell KC, very politely replied that that was something his client is well able to do himself. He has been recognised internationally for his efforts and his images and data are currently featuring almost daily in the national press. 

Don has a crowdfunder to help pay for his mounting legal costs. If you can find a few pounds here are the details https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-mowi-privatising-public-waters-in-scotland/

MY COMMENTS

I am indebted to Ewan Kennedy for keeping my readers up to date with all the key developments in this important case. Having been disappointed with the initial outcome at the first hearing in Oban Sheriff Court I am heartened that the Appeal has already forced the giant multinational to withdraw a number of measures that were clearly an infringement of not only Don Staniford’s rights but also everyone in Scotland.

. Here giant multinational companies are trying to use the law to eliminate Don Staniford speaking out about abuses that his investigations discover. Abuses that often reveal cruelty, pollution and several other real problems. Don deserves the support of us all.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland

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