LORD Caithness, the Government Shipping Minister, was last night

accused of inaction on measures to prevent a repeat of the Braer oil

spill.

The criticism was made on the eve of an international conference in

Shetland on marine pollution, at which the Minister will speak today --

after weeks of wavering over whether or not to attend.

Strathclyde East's MEP, Mr Ken Collins, last night backed demands made

locally for a sheriff's or public inquiry into the Braer incident.

Mr Collins, who is chairman of the European Parliament's environment

committee, said the only way to resolve what had happened in the

accident off Shetland in January, was a specific inquiry based in

Shetland.

Lord Donaldson's inquiry was too wide in its remit, and the Marine

Accident Investigation Bureau's report would be secret, he said.

''We have to look to the future to make sure that this kind of thing

does not happen again.''

He called for greater EC control of movement of ships around the

Community, and stricter liability regulations.

A spokesman for the Shetland Labour Party, Mr Peter Hamilton,

criticised Lord Caithness for refusing to meet a cross-party forum

during his visit. The group has petitioned Transport Secretary John

MacGregor for radar monitoring and other measures to protect the

islands' shores, as well as a sheriff's inquiry into the Braer incident.

Meanwhile, marine monitoring has disclosed decreasing contamination of

wild fish and shellfish within the fisheries exclusion zone off southern

Shetland.

An interim report of the Marine Monitoring Programme, by the Scottish

Office Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, published yesterday, also states

that samples collected from commercial fishing grounds outwith the

exclusion zone were not tainted, and that only 20% of the salmon farms

in Shetland were considered to be at risk.