Good morning, convener and committee members. I am grateful for the chance to address you today, along with my officials.
As you all know, I am a very strong and public advocate for the aquaculture sector, and for the many benefits and opportunities that it brings and will continue to bring for the people of Scotland. I have been following the committee’s inquiry and seen the ECCLR Committee’s report, which have brought sharply into focus many of the issues that the Government has been working with the sector to resolve. We should acknowledge that the sector has come a long way from where it was—things have not been standing still, by any means. The message from us, from science and from the industry itself—I believe that members heard from the industry last week—echoes the ECCLR Committee report’s message that the status quo is not acceptable.
I come here today on the back of a number of significant developments. Many of them have been in train for some time and have been progressed against the backdrop of two committee inquiries and expectations about the way forward. They include a commitment to consider the potential for an alternative consenting regime that would address concerns among local planners and environmental groups about current planning regimes and areas of dispute concerning the applicability of the precautionary principle. We will also address questions about how the differing regulatory regimes mesh with each other, which is a theme that has already featured in the committee’s inquiry.
Secondly, there is an agreement with the sector to manage the capture of wild wrasse, which are used as cleaner fish, in a sustainable way.
Thirdly, there is a new permitted development order that will bring more transparency to changes in routine husbandry in aquaculture.
As I outlined at the aquaculture industry leadership group, we will establish an independently chaired working group to look at how we can move forward the dialogue on the interaction between wild and farmed salmon in an innovative way, against a backdrop of diverging and sometimes inconsistent science.
In autumn last year, I made a commitment in our programme for government to work with the sector to develop a farmed fish health framework, in order to address many of the health issues that are highlighted in the ECCLR Committee report. We expect that the framework documents will be ready for publication relatively soon. The framework gives the clear message that we are determined to ensure that the challenges of health and disease are addressed in both the immediate future and the long term. The framework demonstrates that we work constantly to improve how the salmon sector operates, because we fully support the industry’s ambitions.
However, let us be clear: we will not accept growth at any expense. Growth must be sustainable. That reality is not lost on the sector because it, too, has a reliance on, and an economic vested interest in, our natural landscape and surroundings. However we seek to quantify it in the recognised Scottish premium, the environment is one of the most important—if not the most important—of its component parts.
I have come today in the hope that, collectively, we can agree on the importance of aquaculture to the Scottish economy and also on how we might best resolve some of the concerns and reservations that others retain. I believe that we can resolve the conundrum without detriment or conflict. Aquaculture has of late received considerable attention, which is a testament to its being a continuing success story and the accompanying additional public scrutiny that naturally travels alongside that. The industry has received significant public criticism—some of it has been understandable, but much has been unevidenced and emotive in its language.
I hope that the committee will agree that the work that we have been doing—and the work that we are going to do—amounts to a rigorous commitment to the environmental sustainability of the salmon farming sector in Scotland. By getting all the parties around the table, we will ensure that everyone’s voice is heard. The outcome of the committee inquiry will have a significant impact on all concerned. We should recognise that we all have a responsibility to get this right.