Committee
Environment and Rural Development Committee, 06 Dec 2006
06 Dec 2006 · S2 · Environment and Rural Development Committee
Item of business
European Issues
The minister knows that conservation-led measures must underpin our thinking and actions. As I said, you have been in your job for a great number of years. Where do you think Scotland's east coast fishing communities would be now if you had been daft enough to listen to those who annually proclaim that there should be no reductions in nephrops catches and no changes in how the seas are fished? Would those communities exist? Furthermore, where would we be if the committee had not had the good sense to pass a statutory instrument on scallop fishing three years ago that protected the livelihoods of west coast and Western Isles fishermen? Where would we be had you and the Parliament been daft enough to support the ridiculous position that the Scottish National Party has advocated?
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Our third and final agenda item is consideration of European Union issues. In particular, we will consider the December 2006 meeting of the agriculture and f...
The Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Ross Finnie):
LD
I am glad to have an opportunity to comment on European Union issues. The next meeting of the environment council will take place on 18 December and the agri...
The Convener:
Lab
Because of the issues on the agenda and those that we have talked about before, I suggest that we deal with fishing issues first, with questions from round t...
Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
The minister will be aware that thousands of families are anxiously awaiting the outcome of December's talks. Every year the minister says that one of his ai...
Ross Finnie:
LD
Let us be clear: the dispute over nephrops is not among people in the European Commission but among the scientists. That is probably more concerning. Like ev...
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
Your briefing paper states:"the Commission has staked its credibility as a fisheries manager on the recovery of cod."Reading between the lines, one can see a...
Ross Finnie:
LD
On the first point, there is no doubt at all that the approach that was adopted yesterday is disappointing. The provisions of article 8 of the cod recovery p...
Mr Alasdair Morrison (Western Isles) (Lab):
Lab
I think that Mr Finnie is now Europe's longest-serving and most experienced fisheries minister. I was relieved that he put the management of fish stocks into...
Ross Finnie:
LD
We have already made submissions on the matter. As soon as we picked up that there was disagreement—which was before it became public—we quickly engaged with...
Mr Morrison:
Lab
The minister knows that conservation-led measures must underpin our thinking and actions. As I said, you have been in your job for a great number of years. W...
Ross Finnie:
LD
Those are good questions. I have no doubt that we needed a more sustainable fishery in general. Moving towards such a fishery has involved decisions that hav...
Mr Brocklebank:
Con
The minister will be delighted to hear that I do not propose to go over old arguments and old ground. I will try to stick with whatever positive aspects I ca...
Ross Finnie:
LD
There is no agreement to take back anything. There is no agreement to change mesh sizes in the prawn fishery, to use a grid in the nets—I will come back to t...
Mr Brocklebank:
Con
I was referring to the fact that there are proposals for reductions in catching effort for both mesh sizes.
Ross Finnie:
LD
Indeed. Let me extend that argument. There is a clear case that I will wish to prosecute with regard to the effect that that will have on us. The non-Scottis...
Mr Brocklebank:
Con
I have one further question relating to your previous appearance at the committee. I think that you said then that there were still attempts by certain count...
Ross Finnie:
LD
The financial instrument for fisheries guidance management agreement has finished and the European fisheries fund will come into play. We were successful in ...
The Convener:
Lab
What is the current estimate of overcapacity in fleets in other countries?
Ross Finnie:
LD
It is difficult to say, as they are different fisheries. The Dutch and the Danes have been more open about discussing the need for decommissioning. Both the ...
Eleanor Scott:
Green
As you mentioned, we have a mixed fishery in Scotland. It is clear that, whatever the target species is, a lot of different stuff comes up in the nets. It is...
Ross Finnie:
LD
There has been discussion of closed areas, but not for about two years. Quite a bit of work was done on closed areas by the Commission and others, and we, in...
Eleanor Scott:
Green
Would fishermen be in favour of closed areas?
Ross Finnie:
LD
We are all interested in measures that would make the process more rational. Whereas in theory it would be great to have areas in which fishermen could opera...
Eleanor Scott:
Green
The thought was that the fishermen would be well aware of where the spawning grounds were and so on.
Ross Finnie:
LD
Yes, indeed. All those issues were fed into discussions—well, not all of them, because the matter was not pursued as far as it might have been. The issue has...
Frank Strang (Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department):
One of the important issues with discards is to know the facts. One of our priorities this year will be to ensure that all member states provide discards dat...
Eleanor Scott:
Green
Can you get reliable data on that?
Frank Strang:
We are saying that not every member state provides reliable data, which is one of our priorities.
Rob Gibson:
SNP
What is the minister's understanding of cod stocks? Are there more cod in Scottish waters this year than there were last year?
Ross Finnie:
LD
There might be. No scientist appears to disagree about the sightings of juvenile cod—I made it pretty clear that scientist observers on vessels have reported...