Scotland Only Blue Zone

SCOTLAND-ONLY BTV8 BLUE ZONE

• Maintaining healthy livestock in Scotland is a high priority for the Scottish livestock industry and for Scottish Government. Safeguarding against the threat of bluetongue continues to be important.

• The group recognises the important roles that both the compulsory BTV8 vaccination campaign and the responsible sourcing of livestock by the industry have played in Scotland successfully remaining bluetongue-free to date. Members were pleased to hear that vaccination progress is on target, with enough vaccine sold in Scotland to cover over 95% of eligible livestock. The efforts of everyone involved in achieving this, and in particular the farmers and vets on the ground, were applauded.

• There is a shared concern to continue to secure the benefits arising from these activities.

• The group met on 15th May to consider information on:
i) the movement controls that would need to be put in place for a Scotland-only blue zone
ii) an economic analysis of the impact that this might have on trade within GB
iii) veterinary advice on current bluetongue risks.

• Implementing a Scotland-only BTV8 blue zone in the current disease situation is not anticipated to result in any appreciable cost benefit to the livestock industry. At the end of the meeting, a divergence of views remained within the Scottish industry on whether such a zone would bring worthwhile benefits to the livestock industry as a whole. The group agreed that until these can be resolved, no action should be taken to implement a blue zone. The Scottish Government agreed to undertake additional economic analysis to aid further discussion.

• The group proposed that surveillance for BTV8 in line with blue zone requirements should be carried out over summer 2009. This would allow more rapid implementation of a BTV8 blue zone should that be considered appropriate at a later date. The surveillance undertaken should also be of a nature that the EU Commission would accept as evidence towards proving two years of disease freedom, which is a requirement for achieving disease-free status. The Scottish Government agreed to consider this.