And South Scotland MSP Emma Harper has praised the quick emergency response.
She has raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament to commend the Dumfries and Galloway Division of Police Scotland, the Royal Navy and HM Coastguard over their swift response to dealing with the incident.
In the motion, she said: “Firstly, I want to wholeheartedly thank the Dumfries and Galloway Division of Police Scotland, the Royal Navy and HM Coastguard for dealing with the unexploded World War II ordnance which was picked up by a local scallop dredger and brought into Portpatrick Harbour. The action led to a safe and controlled explosion of the device, which ensured the safety of the dredger’s crew and of people locally.”
However, she also used the opportunity to again highlight what she has described as the very real dangers posed by the munitions dumping ground – Beaufort’s Dyke – situated in the Irish Sea between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Quoting official statistics from the Ministry of Defence, Ms Harper revealed that in excess of one million tonnes of surplus conventional and chemical weapons have been dumped in the 300-metre deep, 3.5 kilometre wide, 50 kilometre long dumping ground.
And she called on the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Scotland – who have stated publicly their intention to build either a bridge or tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland – to publish plans on how they would deal with the dangers presented by this toxic and explosive trench which is also currently an active route for Trident Nuclear Submarines.
