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1. In summer 2001, 252 members of the public in south-west Scotland were interviewed to determine their awareness of, and opinions on, cetacean conservation issues in Scotland. Interviews were conducted in both rural island and coastal communities and a major city. Interviewees were also presented with a list of threats to cetaceans and were asked to gauge how serious they considered these threats to be for cetaceans in the waters of western Scotland. 2. Oil spills (43.7%), reduction in available prey (41.8%), marine litter (32%) and sewage bacteria (31.1%) were ranked by most members of the public as being ‘serious threats’. 3. Least concern was expressed in relation to whale watching: only 0.8% of respondents considered whale watching to be a serious threat and 51.2% thought that it posed no threat at all. 4. In relation to the other threats considered, there was a moderate level of concern about fishery by-catches and pollution from aquaculture and land-based sources. 5. Levels of concern about disturbance caused by quarrying, dredging and military activities were generally low, despite these factors having been raised by some as being conservation issues in west Scotland. 6. The majority of participants (69.4%) were aware of whaling operations currently being conducted by Japan and Norway. Almost all participants were against these countries hunting whales (96.4%). 7. Interviewees were also asked for their opinion regarding the level of protection currently afforded to cetaceans by the Scottish Government. Virtually no interviewee considered cetaceans to be overprotected in Scotland (0.4%). A substantial proportion were of the opinion that they are not sufficiently protected (45.6%). Of these, virtually all (94.8%) thought that legislation specifically for the protection of cetaceans in Scotland should be introduced. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In summer 2001, members of the public in south-west Scotland were interviewed to determine their knowledge of the diversity and occurrence of cetaceans in the region. Interviews were conducted in both rural island and coastal communities and a major city.The majority of interviewees (46%) underestimated the number of cetacean species occurring in western Scottish waters (i.e. Interviewees were also asked whether certain cetacean species occurred in local waters or not. The level of awareness was generally low. The most common positive answers involved the bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise, and minke whale. Only one in five were aware of killer whales and 13·1% believed that grey whales occurred in Scottish waters. Knowledge of species occurrence showed statistically significant relationships with age, gender, level of environmental interest and location, but not occupation (teachers, tourism professionals and marine stakeholders did not show greater levels of cetacean knowledge). The study identified target groups and locations where knowledge of cetaceans is low and environmental education efforts should be concentrated.

The effect of storage conditions on the aggregation and release responses of platelets have been investigated, using ADP as activating agent and beta-thromboglobulin (BTG) as a measure of the release reaction. Spontaneous release of BTG during storage was also investigated. Platelets held at room temperature maintained their ability to aggregate and release BTG in response to ADP after 3 days storage. After storage for 1 day at 4 degrees C platelets showed normal aggregation in response to ADP but did not release BTG. After 4-6 days, platelets stored at room temperature showed a smaller spontaneous loss of BTG than those stored at 4 degrees C. Spontaneous release of BTG from platelets in whole blood stored at 4 degrees C was significantly lower than from platelets stored as concentrates, although platelets prepared from whole blood stored for 1 day showed neither release nor aggregation in response to ADP stimulation. We suggest that ADP-stimulated BTG release may be a sensitive tests of platelet function during storage.