Chamber and committees

Thank you all for your questions. I am going to be asking the question on behalf of Afam. Is there anything that I need to keep in mind while asking that question? I am particularly going to be focusing on participation.

Thank you—that is really helpful.

That was really fascinating—thank you.

What is the current state of play with marine funding after Brexit?

It has been reported today that the European Commission has imposed a fine of £5.6 million following a 2020 audit’s uncovering of failures in how the Scottish Government was administering common agricultural policy fund payments to Scottish farmers. Where will the money to pay that fine come from?

Good morning, cabinet secretary. The programme for government said that a science and innovation strategy for marine and freshwater environments will be published. Will that have budgetary implications for Scottish Government-funded science?

I would like to get some examples, if possible, that paint a picture of where you feel mainstreaming has not worked to tackle inequalities and to reach human rights aspirations. Would people’s participation in those areas have helped us to gain a better understanding of the impacts of policy making and would it have made a difference?

Yes. Thank you, convener, and good morning. As part of my opening statement, I want to get across the importance of our fisheries to our country and the economy as a whole. Our fisheries and wider blue economy are an essential part of Scotland’s economy and culture. The seas and shores are a part of the rich tapestry of Scotland’s history. As a representative of a coastal constituency, I know at first hand the important contribution that fisheries and coastal communities make to Scotland.

As much as I love to boast about Banffshire and Buchan Coast, I have some stats for you—in case anybody is a bit of a statistician—that show that 48 per cent of the Scottish Parliament’s constituencies are coastal. If we include estuaries, the figure is 60 per cent. All but one of the Scottish Parliament’s electoral regions touch the coast. That means that 93 MSPs represent coastal communities, including estuaries, which is 72 per cent of our Parliament. We know from recent debates, both in and outwith the Scottish Parliament, that policies that affect fisheries and coastal communities are matters of great importance and have been highly politically sensitive.

Scotland boasts the United Kingdom’s largest fishing port and Europe’s largest white fishing port. Our fisheries and wider blue economy are rapidly evolving, and it is abundantly clear that our food and drink sector, particularly our seafood sector, plays a leading role in supporting Scotland to thrive at home and abroad. At the local level, the opportunities that fishing provides are invaluable, from catching to processing and from packing to marketing. Our blue economy offers huge opportunities in abundance. The Scottish fish sector is also essential to brand Scotland and it is a key component of Scotland’s soft power on the world stage.

There are a number of issues that fisheries and coastal communities face. We have climate change, the spatial squeeze with offshore and inshore renewable energy, and restrictive policies on fishing. Those are just some of the issues that we hope to look at across party lines. I hope that the committee will approve the establishment of this vital cross-party group.

I have looked, but I have not found a forum for the issues. Over the past two and a half years, they have obviously come up in my constituency work and my work on the rural committee. We had a round-table discussion with fishers from the pelagic sector and people from the processing and inshore fisheries sectors. That was beneficial, but it was only one occasion.

You will appreciate how packed our workloads can be, but I feel that we need additional space for more people to come forward. The fisheries sector keeps talking about the renewables industry and the impacts on ports and service vessels, and I do not think that there is a joined-up or collaborative approach yet. Some offshore wind companies have had discussions with fisheries, but only in bits and pieces. If we have a national overview, we will be able to set a standard for best practice on communication between all the relevant industries.

I have had conversations about that and I can list a few non-MSP members. Besides the Fishmongers’ Company, there is the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, offshore wind companies, a number of individual fishers, the Salamander offshore wind project, SSE and Peterhead Port Authority as well as representatives of community groups. A vast array of different industries are covered because I did not want it to be only a fisheries CPG. I want it to extend to coastal communities because of all the pressures that are affecting them at the moment.