A school of bottle nose dolphins may have put parts of Cardigan Bay off limits for oil and gas exploration, UK energy minister Malcolm Wicks has announced today (Thursday).

A report by the sea mammal research unit at St Andrew's University ,commissioned by the minister, has concluded that not enough is currently known about the population of dolphins in the Cardigan Bay area to judge how they might be affected by any exploration.

The findings of the report are contained in a draft environmental assessment, which is now subject to a three month public consultation.

"Most areas covered by the 24th offshore oil and gas licensing round have had the go ahead," said Mr Wicks, "but I was concerned about the dolphin populations in Cardigan Bay... That's why I commissioned the St Andrew's review into what impact licensing would have on this area.

"My officials visited Cardigan Bay to hear local views first-hand and we also received numerous comments from interested parties concerned about the resident bottle nose dolphin population there.

"At the moment we don't know enough about the number and distribution of the dolphins to be able to decide if it would be safe to explore that area.

"The oil and gas sector is one of the UK's most important industries. Our role is to encourage the continued development of the North Sea while complying with laws which protect our environment."

The draft assessment will now be subject to a three month public consultation, this can be found and commented on at: http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site.

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