The Scottish Government is continuing to survey and analyse results of information collected around the site of the North Sea oil leak at the Shell Gannet F Subsea installation.

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has been in contact with Shell and the SOSREP where he urged again for better communication and stressed the importance of openness and transparency.

Mr Lochhead said: "We have made clear the Scottish Government's primary role is to assess and advise on the impact this spill may have on the marine environment.

"The current information we have is that only one oiled bird has been spotted - there is no evidence of any significant impact. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) advice is that bird densities in the area are low - analysis of the preliminary survey carried out during yesterday's flight is currently being undertaken. Initial results will be available once the Environment Group has reviewed and assessed the information. The results of this first survey will be used to inform further more detailed and robust surveys - the next, more extensive, one is planned for tomorrow and will involve a specialist aircraft and two trained observers.


"We do not expect fisheries to be impacted, but again monitoring will be undertaken. Marine Scotland's Fisheries Research Vessel Scotia has been diverted to the area and tasked to take samples from the incident area for analysis.

"I have spoken with both Shell's senior management and the UK Government's offshore incident representative Hugh Shaw over the past 24 hours and I stressed, once again, the importance of clear communication on the current operation and the expectation people have for complete openness and transparency on the situation. I was assured by both that this point had been taken on board, and I'm pleased to see that steps have now been taken to put more information in the public domain. This must continue."

(GK)