Question reference: S6W-22439
- Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 2 November 2023
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 9 November 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding the potential impact on the marine environment in Scotland, whether it will make further representations to the UK Government and Marine Management Organisation on implementing improved measures for monitoring bycatch from all vessels operating in UK waters, including foreign-owned super trawlers.
Answer
While the management of Scottish waters is an area of devolved competency, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations through the delivery of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) which is a joint plan for tackling bycatch across the UK to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species. This includes an objective to improve our understanding of bycatch through monitoring, which we continue to do through our observer programmes.
Sustainability, support for biodiversity, and consideration of the wider ecosystem is at the heart of how we manage Scotland’s fisheries and protect our marine environment. For this reason, actions contained within both Scotland Fisheries Management Strategy and in the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland, sets out our ambition for the sustainable management and shared stewardship of Scotland’s seas and coasts.
The Future Catching Policy will take concrete action to support fishers to avoid bycatch of fish and other sensitive marine species – the aim is to reduce waste and increase the sustainability of the Scottish fishing fleet. As a first priority, we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures were required to reduce unwanted catch, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.