Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-00522

Asked by: Edward Mountain, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 7 June 2021
Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 22 June 2021

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many fishing vessels have been boarded for inspection by Marine Scotland in each month between (a) January and May 2020, and (b) January and May 2021, broken down by the nationality of the vessel.

Answer

Boarding inspections in Port can only be conducted if a vessel lands in a Scottish Port. Therefore this largely depends on what vessels land in Scottish ports.

The following table is a breakdown of Boarding inspections in port by Month (January to May) in 2020 and 2021, by nationality.

	Boardings in Port						Boardings in Port
2020	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	2021	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
DNK	2	1				DNK					1
ESP	6	2	1			ESP				1	1
FRA	5	6	5			FRA		2		2	1
FRO	3					GBR	51	18	33	31	39
GBR	116	94	54
NOR	2		2

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
UK	87%	91%	87%	0%	0%	UK	100.0%	90.0%	100.0%	91.2%	92.9%
Non UK	13%	9%	13%	0%	0%	Non UK	0.0%	10.0%	0.0%	8.8%	7.1%


	Landings						Landings
2020	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	2021	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
Denmark	2					England	62	56	56	65	72
England	79	63	88	37	61	France	3	17	33	24	24
France	20	29	37	25	37	Germany			1	1	2
Germany			1	1	2	Guernsey					1
Ireland				2		Isle of Man	1	6		4	3
Isle of Man	2	2	4	4	7	Northern Ireland	11	3	19	9	9
Northern Ireland	12	1	3		2	Norway	1			1
Norway	5	7	6	2	2	Scotland	3442	2571	3848	3550	2297
Scotland	3334	3132	3266	2045	3443	Spain		11	15	18	28
Spain	14	13	25	29	32	Wales					1
Wales	4	1	1		4

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
UK	98.8%	98.4%	97.9%	97.1%	97.8%	UK	99.9%	98.7%	98.8%	98.7%	97.6%
Non UK	1.2%	1.6%	2.1%	2.9%	2.2%	Non UK	0.1%	1.3%	1.2%	1.3%	2.4%

The following table is a breakdown of Boarding inspections at sea, by nationality for the periods January to May 2020 and 2021.

It is worth noting that on any given day the UK fishing fleet accounts for approximately 80% of vessels actively fishing in Scottish waters. It would therefore be reasonable to expect that 80% of our boarding inspections during any given period would be on UK vessels and the remaining 20% being foreign vessels.

As we work a risk based approach, our boardings will not always reflect nationality. Our boarding statistics indicate that 70% of our boardings are UK vessels, with the remaining 30% being foreign vessels, which would be proportionate to the fleet sizes.

	Boardings at Sea						Boardings at Sea
2020	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	2021	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
DEU						DEU	1	1		2
DNK						DNK	4		2	3
ESP						ESP				1	3
FRA			1			FRA	1			5	5
GBR	16	11	7			GBR		7	13	25	37
IRL		3				IRL	7				4
NLD						NLD				1
NOR		1	2

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
UK	100%	73%	70%	0%	0%	UK	0%	88%	87%	68%	76%
Non UK	0%	27%	30%	0%	0%	Non UK	100%	13%	13%	32%	24%

Please note, Covid restrictions were applicable from April 2020 and continue to be applicable now.

Mitigations have been put in place to allow boarding inspections to take place where safe to do so.

See all of Edward Mountain's questions