Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2015
As I always do at the start of debates on our fishing industry, I pay tribute to all of Scotland’s fishermen, who risk their lives daily in braving the conditions of the sea to bring us high-quality fresh fish. However, the seas are not the only challenges that our fishermen face; recently, there have been the challenges of the struggling economic climate and the need to find new and emerging markets because of the Russian trade sanctions.
In 2013, Russia took 18 per cent of the UK total mackerel export market. Since the sanctions, Nigeria has become the biggest export market—it took 20 per cent of the UK mackerel market in 2014. There has also been significant growth in markets in the Netherlands and China. I am delighted that, despite tough times, our fishing industry has managed to adapt and survive.
While I am on the topic of mackerel, and having raised the issue in previous debates on fishing, I say that I am happy to hear that the mackerel dispute—it was about the overfishing of mackerel stock by Iceland and the Faroes and it led to a proposed decrease in the total allowable catch for Scottish fishermen—has finally been resolved. Talks between the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands reached a solution when a 15 per cent reduction in mackerel quotas was agreed. In practice, this means that the TAC will be 10 per cent higher in 2016 than it was five years ago. That is good news, as mackerel is still Scotland’s most valuable fish and is expected to be worth £130 million in 2016.
Larger quotas for mackerel and other fish stocks are clearly good news for our fishing industry. However, we must strike the right balance between economic growth in the sector and sustainability. Developing sustainable fisheries is essential not only to the Scottish fishing industry’s future but to protecting our fragile fishing and coastal communities, the wider seafood sector and our seas.
Creating a fully sustainable fishing industry is no easy task, but we are making progress. Just over 50 per cent of North Sea fishing stock is being sustainably managed, but in my area—the west of Scotland—progress has not been so healthy, because there has been overfishing of small fish. That is disappointing, as the west of Scotland used to be one of Scotland’s most productive fishing areas.
It is clear that, while some progress is being made, we still have a long way to go. I suggest that the situation could be tackled by implementing the discard ban effectively, fishing at sustainable levels and helping to deliver a good environmental status, while retaining a profitable and sustainable fishing industry.
Quotas and the discard ban, which is due to be phased in from 2016, will go some way to help. However, before the ban is brought in, I suggest that the Scottish Government listens to the calls from WWF, which asks all parties to develop a strategy for the implementation and cost-effective monitoring of the discard ban. We need more hard data on our fishing industry and we should ensure that proper monitoring is introduced not only for the discard ban but for quotas.