Committee
Environment and Rural Development Committee, 24 Jan 2007
24 Jan 2007 · S2 · Environment and Rural Development Committee
Item of business
Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
I thank the minister for that detailed explanation. As I am sure she will fondly recall, underuse of sites was raised time after time at stage 1. I would appreciate it if the minister could give us guidance on the procedures that are involved in notifying the competition authorities and how quickly a dispute could be resolved. It could be that two or three people own a small indigenous farm and, a few hundred yards down the sea loch, a multinational owns a perfectly good site that has not been used and has, in effect, been sterilised, thereby denying the community the use of a perfectly good piece of sea loch. If the minister is not in a position to explain today how and in what timescale the competition authorities would help to resolve that, I would be pleased to accept her assurance that she will give me a detailed response in writing later this week.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Agenda item 2 is the first day of stage 2 proceedings on the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Sarah Boyack, the Deputy Minister for Envir...
Sections 1 to 5 agreed to.
Section 6—Enforcement notices
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 1, in the name of Alasdair Morrison, is in a group on its own.
Mr Alasdair Morrison (Western Isles) (Lab):
Lab
Amendment 1 makes provision for appeal against enforcement notices. Members will recall that the issue exercised many witnesses during our evidence-taking se...
Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
I would like to explore further the timescales that would be involved. Involving a sheriff could lead to an extended period between the putting in place of a...
The Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Sarah Boyack):
Lab
I very much welcome Alasdair Morrison's amendment on appeals. As committee members know, the Executive agreed to lodge an amendment at stage 2 to introduce s...
Mr Morrison:
Lab
The minister has addressed all the points adequately, so there is no need for me to wind up.
Amendment 1 agreed to.
Section 6, as amended, agreed to.
Section 7—Code of practice
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 24, in the name of Rob Gibson, is in a group on its own.
Rob Gibson:
SNP
At stage 1 the committee was exercised by the potential for review of the code of practice. We were concerned that the code should promote best practice, rat...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I accept Rob Gibson's desire to probe on the issue, so I will take slightly longer over amendment 24 than I did over amendment 1. Amendment 24 is basically a...
Mr Morrison:
Lab
I thank the minister for that detailed explanation. As I am sure she will fondly recall, underuse of sites was raised time after time at stage 1. I would app...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
It might be helpful for me to reassure the committee that, as my predecessor Rhona Brankin said, the Executive is working with the competition authorities on...
Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
Is the minister aware of whether companies apply for new licences when they already have sites that are unused? To me, that is the crux of the issue. If comp...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I do not have that information at present. Our main position is that the perception in the industry is that aquaculture sites are not easy to come by. If a m...
Rob Gibson:
SNP
The committee said in its stage 1 report that it considered"that the long-term retention of sites which are left inactive is unacceptable."My amendment 24 ad...
Amendment 24, by agreement, withdrawn.
Section 7 agreed to.
Sections 8 to 14 agreed to.
Section 15—Construction of barriers to movement of fish, treatment of waters with chemical agents etc
The Convener:
Lab
Amendment 2, in the name of the deputy minister, is grouped with amendments 3 to 5.
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Amendments 2 to 5 are technical amendments to the provision on barriers. Amendments 2 and 3 will replace the term "construction" with "creation". That wider ...
Amendment 2 agreed to.
Amendments 3 and 4 moved—Sarah Boyack—and agreed to.
Section 15, as amended, agreed to.
Section 16—Further powers by regulations under section 31(1) of the 2003 Act
Amendment 5 moved—Sarah Boyack—and agreed to.