Transport and the Environment Committee, 25 Mar 2002
Meeting date: Monday, March 25, 2002
Official Report
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Scottish Parliament Transport and the Environment Committee Monday 25 March 2002 (Afternoon)
[The Convener opened the meeting in private at 13:49]
Meeting continued in public.
I welcome members of the press and public to this meeting of the Transport and the Environment Committee. I also welcome MSPs who are not members of the committee but who have joined us today: John Farquhar Munro and Jamie McGrigor. I understand that George Lyon may attend part of the meeting. I record apologies on behalf of four committee members who are not able to be here today: Des McNulty, Angus MacKay, Robin Harper and Adam Ingram.
I am pleased that the Transport and the Environment Committee has chosen to come to Oban for today's meeting. The level of interest in the meeting is shown by the number of people who have turned out for it. I think that this is the record for public attendance at one of our meetings, so we will probably come back to Oban on a regular basis. Perhaps we should have established the Scottish Parliament in Oban rather than in Edinburgh.
Before we come to the main business of today's committee meeting, I offer Councillor David Webster of Argyll and Bute Council the opportunity to say a few words of welcome.
Councillor David Webster (Argyll and Bute Council):
On behalf of the area committee for Oban, Lorn and the Isles, I welcome you all here. I whole-heartedly agree that this is where you should have had the Scottish Parliament. We will always try to turn on hospitality and good weather when you come back, which we hope you will frequently. I wish you success in your discussions today.
Thank you, Councillor Webster. We appreciate the hospitality that Argyll and Bute Council has afforded us. I record my thanks to you for arranging for the rain to stop before I visited a fish farm this morning.
This morning, committee members visited Kames Fish Farming Ltd in Kilmelford and Cadderlie Mussels in Loch Etive and we were given a tour of the internationally important Scottish Association for Marine Science Dunstaffnage marine laboratory. In addition, Maureen Macmillan and our adviser, Professor Paul Read of Napier University, met Dr Kenny Black, who is carrying out research on fin fish aquaculture and its environmental impact on behalf of the committee and the Executive.