Chamber
Plenary, 05 Mar 2003
05 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2003<br />Sea Fishing (Transitional Support) (Scotland) (No 2) Scheme 2003
All I know is that we have indicated that if such a scheme were available, we would be genuinely interested in it. It is for the UK ministers to pursue the matter. The announcement has not even gone to the council as yet. That is how we will have to proceed.
I make it clear that the scheme will have conditions attached for those who receive transitional support to restrict their fishing days and keep within the order concerning days at sea. We will not pay transitional support to those who choose to fish on additional days—for example, in unregulated seas—nor will we pay transitional support to those who diversify into other fisheries. That is an important point. Therefore, if people choose to engage in displacement, they will come under the regulation.
The two schemes that we propose will require state-aid approval—we cannot pay out the money until that is achieved. I reiterate that we are proposing a package. Both schemes are needed because, as I said at the outset, we need to balance the needs of stocks and the needs of our communities. That is why we are providing the £15 million package. We hope that it will help to promote and assist those who wish to take the opportunity to decommission. We also hope that it injects sufficient liquidity into the sector and that it provides short-term transitional support to enable those affected to adjust their business plans. In conservation and economic terms, both must happen.
Annexe XVII has forced the issue in an unwelcome manner, but the remedies that we propose are sensible in both conservation and economic terms. I invite Parliament to approve both the decommissioning scheme and the transitional scheme.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2003 (SSI 2003/87) be approved.
I make it clear that the scheme will have conditions attached for those who receive transitional support to restrict their fishing days and keep within the order concerning days at sea. We will not pay transitional support to those who choose to fish on additional days—for example, in unregulated seas—nor will we pay transitional support to those who diversify into other fisheries. That is an important point. Therefore, if people choose to engage in displacement, they will come under the regulation.
The two schemes that we propose will require state-aid approval—we cannot pay out the money until that is achieved. I reiterate that we are proposing a package. Both schemes are needed because, as I said at the outset, we need to balance the needs of stocks and the needs of our communities. That is why we are providing the £15 million package. We hope that it will help to promote and assist those who wish to take the opportunity to decommission. We also hope that it injects sufficient liquidity into the sector and that it provides short-term transitional support to enable those affected to adjust their business plans. In conservation and economic terms, both must happen.
Annexe XVII has forced the issue in an unwelcome manner, but the remedies that we propose are sensible in both conservation and economic terms. I invite Parliament to approve both the decommissioning scheme and the transitional scheme.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2003 (SSI 2003/87) be approved.
In the same item of business
The Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Ross Finnie):
LD
In the short time that the Presiding Officer's announcement gave me, I added a little theological content to my speech, so that members will not feel deprive...
Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
The minister used the word "restructuring", but is it not the case that we are talking about destructuring, given the extent of decommissioning that he expec...
Ross Finnie:
LD
That is a highly excitable and, if I might say so, wholly unfounded intervention. We are talking about decommissioning to the extent of 15 per cent of effort...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister take an intervention?
Ross Finnie:
LD
I shall make a little progress and then I shall take another intervention.I turn to the two instruments for debate, beginning with the Fishing Vessels (Decom...
Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The minister will recall that the last time that a decommissioning scheme went through the Parliament, there was huge concern about the fact that many of the...
Ross Finnie:
LD
I shall come on to the detail of that. In general terms, let us be absolutely clear that, essentially, there has to be a contract between the Executive and t...
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
The minister talks about transitional aid to get the industry through the difficult period ahead. The signs that we are getting from the European Commission ...
Ross Finnie:
LD
We must address the question that is before us today. We have introduced a package, we have discussed it and we have allocated funds for it. We are in danger...
Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister take an intervention?
Ross Finnie:
LD
No. I will make one more point. It is important that, as set out in SSI 2003/116, the compensation formula will reflect vessels' historic activity. As I expl...
Fergus Ewing:
SNP
We all understand and agree with the objectives that the minister has described. Does he accept that there is almost unanimous agreement in the industry that...
Ross Finnie:
LD
The member said that the funding "is available", but that is not accurate, as it has not yet been approved by the Council of Ministers and the European Parli...
Mrs Margaret Ewing:
SNP
In relation to the European scheme, what have the Scottish Executive and the Westminster Government done to ensure that support is given to the budget-line a...
Ross Finnie:
LD
All I know is that we have indicated that if such a scheme were available, we would be genuinely interested in it. It is for the UK ministers to pursue the m...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Mr Murray Tosh):
Con
Amendments S1M-3958.1 and S1M-3959.1 are in the name of Richard Lochhead.
Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
This morning's events certainly reinforce the Scottish National Party's view that the Parliament does not have appropriate powers to deliver for Scotland's f...
Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD):
LD
Is not Richard Lochhead's amendment somewhat disingenuous? I know for a fact that he misrepresents the views of members of the Rural Development Committee. H...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Con
You are repeating yourself, Mr Rumbles.
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
If that is the best that the member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine can come up with, I suggest that he sit on his backside for the rest of the debate....
Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab):
Lab
The member said that other countries were building new vessels. If the SNP were in power, would it subsidise fishermen to do that at this juncture?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
One thing that the SNP would not do is destroy the vast bulk of our own fishing fleet.Over the past three years, the Executive has introduced two aid package...
Ross Finnie:
LD
Would it not be more accurate to say that we have actually spent 85 per cent trying to conserve stocks so that there is a sustainable fishing industry?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
One does not conserve the fishing industry by destroying it.The minister says that he needs to scrap vessels in order to secure two of the 15 days a month at...
Mr Rumbles:
LD
Disgraceful.
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
Despite what Mike Rumbles says, it is there in black and white in the committee's report, which was published last week.
Iain Smith (North-East Fife) (LD):
LD
Will Richard Lochhead give way?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
I want to continue with my speech.The SNP's amendment on the decommissioning scheme would ensure that any such scheme would be sensible. The minister must do...
Ross Finnie:
LD
On what basis does the member tell us that the 180 dedicated white-fish vessels amount to only 15 per cent of Scotland's fishing effort on cod?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
If the minister dedicates £40 million to decommissioning and gives no alternative to the fleet but bankruptcy, there will be applications for decommissioning...