Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 07 December 2017
07 Dec 2017 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Sea Fisheries and End-year Negotiations
I am pleased to open our annual fisheries debate by welcoming the broad consensus across the Parliament in support of the motion.
We go into the year-end talks with an industry and sector in rude health. The mood on the quayside right now is positive, and rightly so, with a 25 per cent increase to £557 million in the real-terms value of landings in 2016. Therefore, we must focus on the current needs and interests of the industry, the onshore sector, our coastal communities and our marine environment, and build on that success to ensure a good year of sustainable fishing in 2018.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Linda Fabiani)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S5M-09406, in the name of Fergus Ewing, on sea fisheries and end-year negotiations. 15:02
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity (Fergus Ewing)
SNP
I am pleased to open our annual fisheries debate by welcoming the broad consensus across the Parliament in support of the motion. We go into the year-end ta...
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
I understand that a number of the smaller boats that fish inshore are worried about the increasing costs of licences. Is the Scottish Government aware of tha...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
That issue has been raised on a number of occasions on which I have visited several of the smaller fishermen. I am therefore recommending that, with immediat...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
Does the cabinet secretary acknowledge that remote electronic monitoring is an important part of our toolbox?
Fergus Ewing
SNP
There are many tools, and I accept that monitoring and the use of TVs and so on increasingly form part of the overall approach to sustainable fishing. Electr...
Peter Chapman (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am glad to lead off the debate for the Scottish Conservatives today. Since the Brexit vote in June 2016, the fishing industry has been extremely positive a...
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Peter Chapman
Con
Absolutely.
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
Is the member telling us that we can retrieve only those parts of the fishery out to 200 miles that are fished by other states with their permission? He seem...
Peter Chapman
Con
That is not what I said. It is correct that we will control the fishery zone out to 200 miles but we will also work with our partners. Nobody is saying that,...
Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD)
LD
I feel that it is like the end of an era. Some of us, including Lewis Macdonald and, indeed, Fergus Ewing, have been here from the early days of these fishin...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
This debate is an annual event ahead of the fisheries negotiations with the European Union. The Norwegian talks that concluded at the weekend have been reaso...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We move to the open debate. Speeches of six minutes, please. 15:37
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
Not every MSP attends the fishing debates. My first speech in Parliament in June 2001 was on the subject of fishing, just as my 716th today is on the subject...
Peter Chapman
Con
Will the member take an intervention?
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
In his response to my intervention on the subject, Mr Chapman provided no meaningful answer.
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Christine Grahame)
SNP
Please sit down, Mr Chapman.
Stewart Stevenson
SNP
We have to get 100 per cent control over our waters out to 200 miles. I welcome the hint—or perhaps it was more than a hint—that the London convention will b...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Thank you. I remind members to use full names when referring to other members in the chamber. I call Liam Kerr, to be followed by Emma Harper. 15:44
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
Here we are again at the annual series of bilateral, trilateral and multilateral summits that determine next year’s fishing quotas for EU, Norwegian, Faroese...
Lewis Macdonald (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Mr Chapman did not lay out the reason for the specific detail in the Conservative amendment in his opening speech. Can the member enlighten us?
Liam Kerr
Con
Very briefly, it is to narrow down in the motion the specific political issues that others could raise—if it were not made clear, those might not be a consid...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
There is time in hand for interventions—preferably not from a sedentary position. 15:50
Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I remind the chamber that I am the parliamentary liaison officer for the Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity. I welcome the Scottish Go...
Liam Kerr
Con
Does the member recognise that 10 of the top 20 export countries for UK fish are outwith the European Union?
Emma Harper
SNP
Yes, but the EU is still our biggest market so, although there are export countries outwith the EU, we should not negate other opportunities as we proceed. ...
Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Next year, 2018, will indeed be a complex year for our fisheries. Whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, our ambition to supply high-quality seafoo...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
As is the Holyrood tradition, I, too, wish the cabinet secretary good luck in the forthcoming December talks. It is always the culmination of a long and very...
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP)
SNP
It has been some time since I took part in a fisheries debate in this Parliament. My last one was probably at the end of session 4, so I am pleased to be con...