Hansard

A large part of my time during the previous session of the Parliament was taken up with aquaculture; I think that the same can be said for quite a few others in the chamber today. Along with Robin Harper, I was a reporter on the Transport and the Environment Committee during the previous session, and we reported on the environmental impact of aquaculture. We should all pay tribute to that committee. It put a great deal of thought and effort into its two reports on this subject. Along with the Executive, it commissioned independent research.

As Allan Wilson said, I was the committee's representative on the ministerial working group on aquaculture, which produced the strategic framework document. I chaired the environment sub-committee of that group. Every issue that has been raised this afternoon was raised in that group and addressed in the strategic framework document. It is important to realise—as Richard Lochhead obviously did not—that the members of the working group came not only from the industry but from wild-fish interests, environmental non-governmental organisations, agencies such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage, research bodies such as the Scottish Association for Marine Science, retailers, banks, local authorities and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. That is why the strategic framework has such authority and why it is so important that its recommendations are implemented.

The working group's shared vision, which was arrived at after hours of discussion—I can vouch for that—is extremely important for our country, especially the west Highlands and Islands, where so many jobs depend on Scotland having a

"sustainable, diverse, competitive and economically viable aquaculture industry, of which its people can be justifiably proud".

That is a quote from the introduction to the document.

We must not lose sight of just how important the industry is in the Highlands and Islands in providing work, both on the farms and in processing, information technology, environmental science, transport and engineering. Fish farming is not about throwing fish pellets at a cage of fish—it involves many important and well-paid jobs. We want the industry to become more high-tech and to provide better-paid jobs that require training. That has implications for organisations such as the UHI Millennium Institute.

For me, the main environmental issues that needed to be addressed were the interaction between farmed fish and wild fish and the minimisation of the impact of sea lice. I was interested in what Fergus Ewing said about a recent report, because the research that the Transport and the Environment Committee received indicated that there was a link between sea lice on farmed fish and sea lice on wild stocks. Another important matter was how best to prevent escapes from the cages. I look forward to the working group's presentation on that subject, when it has finished its deliberations. That was highlighted as one of the most important issues, because of the effect on the genetic make-up of the wild fish.

The most pressing social issue is how bridges can be built between the aquaculture industry and some sections of some local communities that resent its presence. The transfer of aquaculture from the Crown Estate to local authority planning will help that process, as people will have more input into where the farms are located. I hope that the future integrated coastal zone management initiative will be linked to that, so that we have much more local input into what we do with our coastal waters.

Since the publication of the strategic framework, there has been a great deal of consultative activity and stakeholders whom I have approached seem content with progress. Although it is time-consuming to sit on committees, it is necessary to have proper consultation before rules and regulations are laid. We have to get things right. I hope that we are coming to

"the end of the beginning",

as the minister said, and I ask him when he expects concrete proposals to emerge.

All that activity is set against the background of a worsening economic position for the industry, as many members have mentioned. There has been a wave of bankruptcies in Norway and some businesses in Scotland are hanging on by their fingernails. The fact that there is a 15 per cent down-turn in the number of smolts that are being put to sea has implications for next year's harvest. It is worrying that one of the major Scottish banks is taking a very hard line with the aquaculture industry, because if the bank will not support it, who will? The small or medium-sized enterprises, which are often run by local people, are the most vulnerable. They are struggling to survive until the expected price upturn next year.

In response to the infectious salmon anaemia crisis at the start of the Parliament's first session, £9 million was made available for loans to help aquaculture businesses that were in difficulties. I believe that only about half of that money was spent and I wonder whether any of it remains and whether it could be made available—on the same, or similar, criteria—to firms that are struggling now.

The problem is that the market is over-supplied. The Norwegians are liquidity slaughtering and the end of the European Commission salmon agreement has sent prices plummeting. The Executive and the Department of Trade and Industry have proposed a surveillance mechanism to counteract the problem, but I am told that a section of the industry in Scotland has opposed the initiative. That is short-sighted—Government's willingness to help in a crisis should be welcomed, because it might not decide to help again.

I hope that the industry will come through the present economic maelstrom and will have learnt lessons about supply and demand and the need for quality. Concentrating on quality has put the power to drive down prices into the hands of the supermarkets. We can never compete on quantity. We must get rid of cowboys and the industry must police itself rigorously, because those who deny that we need a quality product play into the hands of extremists who wish to abolish the salmon farms.

I am tired of seeing press articles full of outdated statistics, half-truths and misinformation about an industry that provides livelihoods for fragile rural areas. I believe that the strategic framework is the way forward to address both the environmental and economic issues of the industry's sustainability.