IT MAY be as much part of modern Scottish mythology as Brigadoon and flying haggis, but in the 1980s government officials prepared a contingency plan for what they would do following the discovery of the Loch Ness monster.

Newly declassified files reveal a flurry of activity between government departments over the question of legal protection for the fabled creature.

Civil servants eventually concluded that should Nessie surface, she (or he) would be entitled to protection from poachers under the provisions of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. The legislation would make it an offence for anyone to snare, shoot or blow up Nessie with explosives.

The issue went as high as senior officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The files also reveal that the issue had earlier been considered by the secretary of state for Scotland.

Ministerial correspondence previously marked as “closed” has now been made public following a request under the Freedom of Information Act by The Sunday Times.

The matter was first raised with officials at the Scottish Office in August 1985. It followed a request by the Swedish government, which was seeking guidance on how it should draft formal legal protection for the Storsjo monster, Sweden’s equivalent of Nessie, said to inhabit Lake Storsjo in the north of the country.

The request prompted a letter from the British embassy in Stockholm to the permanent under-secretary at the Scottish Office. “I am sorry to bother you with an inquiry which will, no doubt, be greeted at first glance with gales of laughter,” it began.

A series of memos between government departments followed, including one from J B Barty, a Rural Group civil servant, stating: “The protection of this putative denizen of the deep deserves serious consideration.”

J F Buckle, an official at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, concluded: “Unfortunately Nessie is not a salmon and would not appear to qualify as a freshwater fish under the Salmon and Fisheries Protection (Scotland) Act 1951.”

Another official wrote: “We should maintain the likelihood of protection for what would be a very rare species if ever identified.”

However, Stephen Dowell, another official, cautioned: “There is, of course, another part to the question and that is measures to protect man from Nessie, however, past history indicates that Nessie’s tastes do not extend to homo sapiens.”

Following advice from the Nature Conservancy Council, officials from the Scottish Development Department wrote back to embassy staff, informing them that if Nessie was discovered she or he would be protected under the 1981 legislation.

The advice was that “the legislative framework to protect the monster is available, provided she (or he) is identified by scientists whose reputation will carry weight with the British Museum.”

The letter, signed by one F H Orr, added: “We should certainly welcome teams of Swedish scientists, amateur and professional, bent on establishing Nessie’s identity and I can assure them that there is ample accommodation in the Highlands and plentiful supplies of the national beverage which will help them to see her in the dark.”

In January 1986 one M Bradfield, from the embassy, wrote back to the Scottish Office, informing officials that legislation had been passed in Sweden to “prohibit the destruction, injury or capture of live animals of the Storsjo monster species extending to the taking or damage to any eggs, roe or nest of the monster”. The letter was copied to Ray Anderson, a senior official in the West European Department at the FCO.

This legal protection was finally revoked two months ago after a watchdog successfully challenged the Swedish government, claiming legislation was not necessary to protect a unproven species.

The Swedish Nessie was first “sighted” in 1635 and is described as snakelike with a dog’s head and fins on its neck.

The documents also reveal that the issue of the monster’s existence had been considered a decade earlier by the then Scottish secretary Willie Ross, following the publication of computer enhanced photographs from Loch Ness.

Adrian Shine, the naturalist and director of the Loch Ness Project, said: “These documents are fascinating, but I think in some parts they may have been written with a tongue placed firmly in cheek.

“The Swedes are very hard-working and serious people and I am not surprised they were keen to offer protection to their own lake monster.

“A similar piece of legislation was enacted to protect the creature in Lake Champlain in Vermont in the US.”

The Swedish consul-general Torvald Colliander, who is based in Edinburgh, said: “Most people in Sweden know about the monster in Lake Storsjo, but generally it is seen as a legend and the whole thing is taken with a pinch of salt.”

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