Hansard

The Convener (Rob Gibson) SNP

Good morning and welcome to the eighth meeting in 2016, and the final meeting of this session, of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee...

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment (Richard Lochhead) SNP

Good morning, convener. I would like to thank you and the committee members, given that this is your last meeting of this parliamentary session. It has been ...

Dave Thompson (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP) SNP

Good morning, cabinet secretary and your team. I have a constituency question that is to do with the River Lochy, although the implications go wider than jus...

Richard Lochhead SNP

As I said in my opening remarks, good and constructive discussions have been taking place on specific issues across the sector to deal with individual circum...

Jeff Gibbons (Scottish Government)

We have been in discussions about the Lochy project in the context of its commercial and conservation benefits, although the focus has been more on the comme...

Jim Hume (South Scotland) (LD) LD

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I have concerns about some of the measures. Some of the data that has been used is based on rod counts and the number of fis...

Richard Lochhead SNP

I ask Jeff Gibbons to answer the point about the need for regulation on the Tweed. I will then answer the point about haaf-netting.

Jeff Gibbons

We had numerous conversations with the River Tweed Commission about the kill licence approach and the importance of demonstrating to Europe how the Scottish ...

Richard Lochhead SNP

I assure the committee that no one in Scotland is saying that the data is perfect or that it does not require improving over the coming years, but we can wor...

Jim Hume LD

My first point was about the property rights of haaf-netters and the like. They are going to lose the right to do what they have been doing for hundreds of y...

Richard Lochhead SNP

We have discussions taking place with different parts of the sector on different issues. We want to work with the haaf-netters and on the science to move for...

The Convener SNP

We have a long list of members who want to come in: Joan McAlpine, Claudia Beamish, Elaine Murray, Jackie Baillie, Michael Russell, Alex Fergusson, Sarah Boy...

Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP

Thank you for allowing me to attend your committee, convener. Cabinet secretary, my question is also about haaf-netters. I have raised the issue in a number ...

Richard Lochhead SNP

I know that Joan McAlpine has taken a close interest in the cultural heritage of haaf-netting. I have read her eloquent articles in the media, as well as her...

Joan McAlpine SNP

Are you saying that the haaf-netters would be involved in counting the number of fish to help you improve the science?

Richard Lochhead SNP

I ask my officials to bring you up to date with the discussions and say what the scientific project might look like.

Jeff Gibbons

I have met the haaf-netters a couple of times to discuss their issues. The activity can continue, but their key message was that being unable to take one or ...

Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) Lab

I wish a good morning to the cabinet secretary and his officials. I will continue on the line of questioning about the haaf-netters. My colleague, Elaine Mur...

Richard Lochhead SNP

I ask Jeff Gibbons to answer that.

Jeff Gibbons

When I met the haaf-netters, that was certainly what they were discussing. When we talked about acceptable levels of mortality under catch and release, I exp...

Claudia Beamish Lab

That is helpful. I wish to ask another question.

The Convener SNP

Please do.

Claudia Beamish Lab

Thank you. My colleagues Jackie Baillie and Elaine Murray also want to highlight issues from their perspective. I have also been asked by Dave Stewart and R...

Richard Lochhead SNP

My colleagues will come in on capacity and how we will approach that. Although we have a lot of support for the categorisation approach, many concerns are b...

Stuart Middlemas (Scottish Government)

We consider districts rather than rivers because that is how data on rod catches have been collected. When people put in their rod-catch return, they do not ...

Claudia Beamish Lab

Thank you. I have a final question. Has there been assessment of the implications for protection and conservation of salmon in the future—per se and for the ...

Richard Lochhead SNP

There are two key drivers for our acting now rather than waiting until we have more statistics or whatever about the rivers—although we still want that infor...

Elaine Murray (Dumfriesshire) (Lab) Lab

It is nice to be at the final meeting in this session of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, as I was also at its first meeting. I ...

Richard Lochhead SNP

The debates that Elaine Murray highlights and the concerns that have been expressed are perfectly legitimate, and I accept them. They are very familiar to me...

Stuart Middlemas

We are speaking to local biologists from the Annan and Nith areas about taking on data that they have. One of the problems that we have from the science side...