Chamber and committees

£14m has been made available each year under the Marine Fund Scotland (MFS).

In some cases, not all the funding made available is drawn down within the financial year by the applicant. Expenditure against awards is as follows;

2021-2022 £12.23m

2022-2023 £11.59m

2023-2024 £12.63m

2024-2025 £2.21m (This isn't for a full year, historically most payments are made in the last quarter of the financial year).

The Scottish Government is working at pace to publish an updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in 2025. We will commence consultation on a draft updated Plan in Spring 2025 and finalise the draft Plan in Autumn 2025 with adoption and publication following as soon as possible thereafter.

The expenditure budget allocated for fisheries harbour grants in 2025-2026 has been maintained at £500,000, the apparent reduction relates to the treatment of financial transactions income which will not impact on the funding available to harbours.

It was not possible within the timeframe to produce data for 2021 to 2023. This is because of the way the data was previously processed and would require manual analysis of all reports to distil the correct data. As part of our business improvement strategy in 2024 we developed a new analytical process to improve efficiency by removing manual checks.

In 2024 there were 798 breaches of the catch composition rules. They were all UK vessels, 96% of which were Scottish registered.

This offence is particularly difficult to detect and gather sufficient evidence to prosecute. The Landing Obligation requires all fish which is subject to a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) are landed, this makes it difficult to comply with requirements to catch minimum quantities of target species, especially in mixed fisheries.

Under the Future Catching Policy (FCP), we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures to reduce unwanted catch, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.

Scotland’s approach to annual fisheries negotiations is informed by the best available evidence, taking into account scientific advice, socioeconomic factors, and the dynamics of fisheries. Our key priority throughout negotiations is always to protect Scottish interests by securing sustainable catching opportunities. Officials engaged closely with colleagues in UK Government in the lead up to and throughout the negotiations, to discuss the scientific advice and negotiating approaches. The Scottish Government continued to play an active role in the UK delegation throughout negotiations, striving to be a constructive partner, and seeking balanced agreements to protect Scottish interests.

The majority of our annual fisheries negotiations with the EU and Coastal State partners, to set catch limits and management measures for jointly managed stocks in 2025, have now concluded. We will issue a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee in early 2025 to outline the outcome of all of the negotiations, including the potential benefits these can bring to Scotland.

Many applications do not proceed to assessment due to them either being withdrawn by the applicant or because they are identified as ineligible. No data is held on the numbers or types of these applications.

Of those eligible applications which are fully assessed the breakdown is in the following tables;

a) Successful applications

The potential cumulative impacts of the ScotWind leasing round are currently being assessed through the sectoral marine planning process. The ScotWind sites, together with the sites leased by Crown Estate Scotland through the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas Decarbonisation (INTOG) leasing round will form the spatial basis for the updated Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy. The planning process includes undertaking a plan-level social and economic impact assessment which will provide an estimate of the potential impacts that offshore wind developments may have on other marine sectors and activities. This assessment will be made available for public consultation, alongside the draft updated Plan, later this year.

The Scottish Government has prioritised improving the collection and recycling of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear in our Marine Litter Strategy published in 2022 in order to protect our environment from plastic pollution and support the growth of our circular economy. There are currently very few relevant recycling facilities in Scotland or the rest of the UK due to the low-value, bulky, contaminated and degraded nature of the waste. We are therefore working across the four nations to increase more sustainable waste management opportunities, coordinating our research and policy analysis and we will work with industry towards effective solutions in the long term.

The Scottish Government conducted an internal review and mapping exercise of port waste reception facilities relevant to the fishing sector in Scotland in both 2023 and 2024 in order to inform future policy development. Of the 18 main ports and harbours surveyed, nine of these have dedicated collection facilities for the disposal of end-of-life fishing gear. The provision of adequate waste facilities available to all vessels, including fishing vessels, encourages responsible disposal behaviour. Information on the individual numbers of fishing vessels using these facilities was not collected.

Details of gear theft and vandalism which were reported to Marine Directorate.