The UK’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer confirmed a new case of Equine Viral Arteritis in a non-thoroughbred stallion on a premises in Shropshire on 31 July 2019.

Investigations are ongoing but at present this appears to be unrelated to the cases in Devon and Dorset earlier in the year. There is no risk to public health.

The owner has indicated that they intend to have the stallion castrated which will address the risk of further disease spread. Restrictions on breeding and movement have been put in place on the animal and will remain in force until the risk has been mitigated.

Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Graeme Cooke, said:

We are taking action to limit the risk of the disease spreading by placing breeding and movement restrictions on the animal. A full investigation is continuing to consider the source and possible spread of the infection. Owners of mares and stallions are always urged as a routine to have their horses tested before they are used for breeding.

These findings remind us that we must all be vigilant for signs of disease and how essential it is to following strict biosecurity measures.

You can help prevent the disease spreading by:

EVA is a notifiable disease in all stallions, and in mares that have been mated or inseminated in the last 14 days.

If you suspect the disease you must report it to APHA immediately by calling the Defra Rural Services Helpline on 03000 200 301.

In Wales, contact 0300 303 8268. In Scotland, contact your local Field Services Office.

If you wish to have your horse tested on a precautionary basis contact your private vet and have your animal tested at an accredited laboratory.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Fiona Dickie, the DPCA, has produced a short video urging tenants and interested parties to provide evidence to the PCA to support its investigation into the pub-owning business

Innovative companies are invited to apply for SBRI contracts to develop solutions for several different public sector organisations in Northern Ireland.

Supporting people living with pain

This Phase 1 SBRI programme is run by the Public Health Agency Northern Ireland. Organisations can apply for a share of up to £150,000 to do research and development into providing a digital platform to support people living with persistent pain.

It should:

• aid self-management by providing information, tools and interventions
• connect service users and providers
• become a data source on the profile of patients living with persistent pain in Northern Ireland
• provide opportunities for further research and service development to improve services for patients with persistent pain

The competition for contracts is open and closes on 16 August at 3pm.

Contracts will be awarded to a potential 3 contractors for a maximum period of 6-months with maximum funding of £50,000 (excluding VAT) per project.

Rapid visualisation and identification of body fluids

Forensic Science Northern Ireland is aiming to speed up the visualisation and identification of bodily fluids for the scientific services and expertise it provides to assist in the investigation of crime and the presentation of scientific evidence in court.

The current process is labour intensive requiring highly trained and skilled members of staff to undertake several thousand examinations per year.

Up to £155,000 of SBRI funding is available for up to 4 innovative suppliers to develop innovative techniques/solutions to improve the rapid visualisation and identification of body fluids on a range of substrates within a forensic science environment.

The competition is open for applications and closes on 16 August at 3pm.

Digital detection of grazing animals

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland is responsible for animal health and welfare and administration of farm subsidies, and holds detailed data (including mapping data) on land use classification and registers of cattle and sheep herd keepers.

This competition aims to encourage and support research and development to deliver innovative technology-enabled approaches to improve the frequency and accuracy of its data on animal locations and movements, and habitat change, at a small-area level within Northern Ireland.

The competition is open and the deadline is 3pm 30 August 2019. .

Space data analytics

The Department of Health Northern Ireland is aiming to test the feasibility of triangulating prescription (health) data and air quality/ pollution data with location data so that new information can be provided to:

• local citizens
• clinicians
• Health and Social Care Board
• Belfast Local Commissioning Group
• Public Health Authority
• Transport
• Belfast City Council teams

This will enable them to be better informed about air quality and empowered to make decisions.

The competition is open and the deadline for applications is 3pm 30 August.

Phase 1 contracts will be awarded to a potential 3 contractors for a maximum period of 4 months with maximum funding of £30,000 (excluding VAT) per project.

• Valued at £10 million, the masterpiece was completed at the pinnacle of his career 
• Arts Minister Rebecca Pow says the export of the work would be a “terrible loss to the whole country”

The Arts Minister Rebecca Pow has stepped in to place a temporary export bar on The Dark Rigi, the Lake of Lucerne by JMW Turner in the hope that the work can be saved for the nation.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851) was an innovative and internationally renowned English painter, whose revolutionary work had a profound impact on the Romantic view of landscapes across Britain and Europe. Born in London in 1775, Turner studied at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1789, enrolling at the age of 14 and his first exhibition took place the following year. 

In 1802 Turner made the first of many visits to Europe during which he completed numerous preparatory sketches which inspired his future works. The watercolour at risk of export was completed following Turner’s 1841 visit to Switzerland where he completed a number of studies of the Rigi mountain, and is part of a trio of famous works, The Red, The Blue and The Dark Rigi. Turner’s way of working, a serial approach to a single motif, was revolutionary and was later employed by artists such as Monet.

Valued at £10 million, the 1842 work The Dark Rigi depicts the mountain at dawn. The view in this work is unique as travellers usually climbed the Rigi to view the panorama from the summit, while Turner favoured the view of the mountain from his inn on the shore of the lake.

Arts Minister Rebecca Pow said:

Turner is one of Britain’s greatest ever artists and The Dark Rigi is a beautiful and emotive work painted at the pinnacle of his career. 

This work is of national importance and if it were to go abroad it would be a terrible loss to the country. I hope that by placing a temporary export bar we can ensure that funds can be raised to save The Dark Rigi for the nation so it is able to go on public display.

Committee Member Peter Barber said:

This breathtakingly beautiful view forms a part of perhaps the most outstanding series of watercolour masterpieces by Turner: those depicting the Rigi at different times of the day.  

In the nineteenth-century the Rigi was (as it has remained) the emblematic Swiss mountain and in Turner’s time the mountains of central Switzerland were as much associated – through the William Tell legend – with liberty as with sublime beauty. ‘Liberty’ was also close to the hearts of Britons, and never more so than during the tumultuous 1840s with Chartism and even revolution in the air. It was perhaps this combination which led Turner to select the Rigi rather than other mountains and which makes it particularly important that this beautiful watercolour, which works on so many different levels, should be retained in this country.

Upon his death in 1851, aged 76, Turner left behind more than 30,000 works on paper, 550 oil paintings and 2,000 watercolours. The work at risk of export is the only remaining work from the Rigi series not in a public collection. 

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA). The committee noted that the work was completed at the apogee of Turner’s career and demonstrates his masterful depiction of light. 

The RCEWA made its recommendation on the grounds of the watercolour’s outstanding aesthetic importance and its outstanding significance for the study of Turner’s landscapes, artistic practice and patronage.  

The decision on the export licence applications for the watercolour will be deferred until 1 December 2019. This may be extended until 1 June 2020 if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase it is made at the recommended price of £10,000,000.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the watercolour should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.

2. Details of the watercolour  are as follows: J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), The Dark Rigi, The Lake of Lucerne 1842, watercolour and scraping out on paper, 30.5 x 45.5 cm. 

3. Provenance: Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (1797-1864); Munro sale, Christie’s, 6 April 1878 (lot 85); bought by Agnews; W.G. Cassels; Charles Algernon Swinburne; Swinburne sale, Christie’s, 2 July 1904 (lot 53); bought by Colnaghi; Sir Max Waechter and by descent to 1975; bought by Leggatt Brothers; Nivison Collection; bought by Simon Dickinson Ltd.; Acquired by the present owner in 2006

4. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by The Arts Council, which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. 

5. The Arts Council champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. www.artscouncil.org.uk.

Interactions between seals and fishing gear include depredation of fish catches by seals and bycatch of seals in fishing gear. Throughout England, depredation is an issue for static net fisheries in particular.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has to provide advice on interactions between seals and fishing gears. In order to improve the specificity of advice, MMO would like to understand the interactions between seals and fishing gear and non-lethal deterrent options better, to be able to offer advice. This may also have positive side effects on fishing by reducing seal by-catch and net-based feeding.

Project MMO1131 was set up aiming to explore the following seven objectives:

1. Understand how seals take fish from nets and what factors assist them (for example, location, visual cues etc.)
2. Identify what factors influence depredation behaviour (for example, opportunistic or specialist)
3. Identify the breeding populations of individuals undertaking depredation
4. Review non-lethal deterrent measures currently available that may be appropriate for reducing the seal–gear interactions at sea
5. Review what modifications to fishing gear or fishing tactics may mitigate seal depredation and bycatch
6. Clarify potential impacts and benefits and risks to the fishing industry, managers and seals of implementing non-lethal measures, gear modifications or tactics identified through V) and VI) and prioritise a sub-set of mitigation measures for testing
7. Design and undertake testing in collaboration with the fishing industry of the most promising depredation deterrent measures

The project will meet these objectives through undertaking the following tasks:

1. A desk-based literature and data review to further inform understanding of the nature of fishing gear/seal interactions, the factors which influence these interactions and potential non-lethal deterrent methods and their effectiveness
2. A programme of stakeholder engagement through survey and interview to gain a detailed understanding of the issue of seal depredation and by-catch in fisheries throughout England. The report was published on 2 August 2019
3. An expert/steering group workshop to review the above outputs and agree on the preferred deterrent to be trialled, the geographic area for the trials and the trial design (covered in report above)
4. Undertaking at-sea trials of the chosen deterrent method to determine its effectiveness