Committee
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 04 March 2026 [Draft]
04 Mar 2026 · S6 · Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Water Environment (Shellfish Water Protected Areas: Designation) (Scotland) Order 2026 (SSI 2026/57)
I have a couple of comments on matters that arose in the consultation responses. First, Shetland Islands Council does not agree with some of the de-designations because, in 2023, around 84.3 per cent of the mussel production in the whole of Scotland took place in Shetland; it is a significant business there. The concern is about the mussel spat sites, so it would be helpful to have an understanding of the Government’s position on that.Secondly, although it did not disagree with the proposed designations, the response from Seafood Shetland referred to SEPA’s monitoring programme, which it considers amounts to little more than reviewing data supplied by Food Standards Scotland. Seafood Shetland believes that that process does little to provide an informative and accurate picture of the true state and health of the wider shellfish water protected areas. Therefore, the committee might like to have an understanding of the Government’s response to those consultation responses.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Are there any comments on the last negative instrument?
Beatrice Wishart
LD
I have a couple of comments on matters that arose in the consultation responses. First, Shetland Islands Council does not agree with some of the de-designati...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. We can certainly ask for clarification.
Rhoda Grant
Lab
My comments are along the same lines. One of my concerns is that these areas are often fished by very small inshore fishers, who are not part of larger organ...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. We can certainly do that.Does the committee agree to make no recommendations on the instruments?Members indicated agreement.
The Convener
Con
That concludes our business in public and we move into private session.11:14Meeting continued in private until 11:29.