Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
UK subordinate legislation - Sea Fisheries (Amendment etc.) (No2) Regulations 2021, correspondence from Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands
Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, to the Convener, 13 January 2022
Dear Finlay,
THE SEA FISHERIES (AMENDMENT ETC.) (NO. 2) REGULATIONS 2021.
EU EXIT LEGISLATION – PROTOCOL WITH SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
The Scottish Parliament agreed on 1 December 2021 that it was content for Scottish Ministers to give their consent to the Sea Fisheries (Amendment etc.) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 including Scottish devolved matters, as set out in the notification to the Parliament.
The Sea Fisheries (Amendment etc.) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 were made on 13 December under the enabling powers listed in the annex to this letter. I can now confirm that this SI varies in some respects from the original proposal but that the variation is not so significant as to need any further process. The variation is that the table of discard exemptions shared with the committee on 24 November 2021, which outlined all of the discard exemptions for 2022 which this SI would introduce, continue or discontinue, mistakenly included selectivity measures associated with the use of a de minimis exemption for North Sea whiting. This was corrected before the SI was laid in the UK Parliament, in line with the original policy intent. It is our view that this variation is minor and does not need further process.
I am copying this letter to the Convener of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee.
Yours sincerely,
Mairi Gougeon