- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many seals have been killed under the Moray Firth Seal Management Plan since its inception.
Answer
A total of 93 seals were shotduring the first phase of the plan between April and December 2005, a significantreduction on the previous level and less than permitted under the licence. The secondphase of the plan does not end until 31 December 2006 and final returns on seals shot during the period January to December 2006are currently awaited.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how the quotas for (a) common and (b) grey seals to be killed under the Moray Firth Seal Management Plan were calculated.
Answer
The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan provides for an annual licence application under the Conservation of Seals(Scotland) Order 2004. Scottish Executive consideration of this application, includesthe securing of scientific advice on seal conservation and management and the undertakingof an appropriate assessment due to the presence of the Dornoch Firth and MorrichMore SAC for common seals.
The maximum numbers permittedunder the licence were calculated using a precautionary permitted biological removalfigure recommended by the statutory scientific advisers on seal management. Thelicence sets out maximum numbers and the provisions of the licence are only usedwhere it is considered that this is necessary to protect fisheries.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Moray Firth Seal Management Plan is being monitored.
Answer
The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan is monitored through a combination of regular surveys of local seal populationsand annual returns from participants in the scheme.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 5 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any evidence that implementation of the Moray Firth Seal Management Plan has resulted in an increase in salmon populations.
Answer
The Moray Firth Seal ManagementPlan has focussed on the management of seals that forage in rivers and so targetsthe individual animals believed to cause most damage to stocks. It has been shownthat removal of salmon by seals may have a large impact where stocks are low, forexample during spring months.
The plan therefore takes a precautionaryapproach to lessening the impacts of predation on salmon stocks while minimisingimpacts on the common seal population but the numbers of salmon returning to Scottishrivers depends on a wide range of factors. The concurrent variations in these factorscan result in large fluctuations between years in numbers of salmon and means thatit is very difficult to isolate the impact of individual management measures fromrecords of salmon catches and counts.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 24 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29237 by Lewis Macdonald on 7 November 2006, whether it will list the devolved requirements, with regard to GM food and feed, that the Food Standard Agency's office in Scotland ensures are met.
Answer
The competent authority for theGM Food and Feed Regulation 1829/2003 in the UK is the Food Standards Agency(FSA), and it is a devolved matter within the UK. The Food Standards Agency advises Scottish ministers onthe transposition of EU measures into Scottish legislation relating to this area.The agency in Scotland also advises Scottish ministers on issues relating to geneticallymodified food and feed.
The agency in Scotland ensuresthat Scottish stakeholder views and any specific Scottish circumstances are takeninto consideration when developing the agency’s policy advice and any actions inrelation to genetically modified food and feed applications.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-27812, S2W-27813 and S2W-27814 by Rhona Brankin on 22 September 2006, whether the Food Standards Agency Scotland has any role in the United Kingdom’s consideration of applications for the approval of genetically modified food and feed under Regulation (EC) 1829/2003.
Answer
The Food Standards Agency isa UK-wide government department and is the UK’s competent authority for applicationsfor authorisation made under regulation (EC) 1829/2003. The agency’s office in Scotlandensures that devolved requirements, with regard to GM food and feed are fully met.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 30 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Minister for Environment and Rural Development has formally met the (a) National Farmers Union Scotland, (b) Scottish Organic Producers Organisation, (c) Soil Association and (d) Biodynamic Agriculture Association in the last 12 months.
Answer
Between 1 November 2005 and31 October 2006 I had formal meetings with representatives of theNational Farmers Union Scotland on six occasions. The other three organisationslisted come within the remit of the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Developmentwho met each of them on one occasion during the same period.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 25 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what top five subjects were raised by individual members of the public with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, as measured by volume of written correspondence over the last 12 months.
Answer
The top five subjects raisedby the public with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development,as measured by the volume of correspondence during the period 1 September 2005 to29 August 2006, are as follows:
1. Tail docking of dogs in Scotland
2. Threat to marine mammal species from Firth of Forthship-to-ship transfer of oil
3. National Farm Workers Union’sconcerns over the power of supermarkets
4. Animal Health and WelfareScotland Bill
5. Eradication of Hedgehogs inthe Western Isles.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 5 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what size of, shipments of potentially GM-contaminated long-grain rice from the United States have been received in each Scottish port in each year since 2003.
Answer
No shipments of US long-grainrice were delivered by sea to Scottish ports in either 2003 or 2004.
Thirty-nine tonnes were deliveredby sea to Scottish ports in 2005, and 20 tonnes between January and July this year.
The Food Standards Agency iscurrently analysing samples of imported rice at rice mills in the UK, and willpublish the results of this analysis shortly.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 22 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates since January 2004 it has (a) met, (b) written to or (c) received correspondence from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to discuss applications to the European Union to import or cultivate genetically modified organisms, including crops, foods, feeds and non-food products, including pharmaceutical crops and biofuels, and whether it will place copies of all correspondence in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
We have regular discussionswith the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on a rangeof issues including applications to import or cultivate genetically modified crops.
Since 2004, applications forthe approval of genetically modified feed and food have been considered underthe genetically modified Food and Feed Regulation (1829/2003). The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the UK competent authority for this regulation.
For applications consideredunder the Deliberate Release Directive 2001/18/EC, the agreed UKassessments and opinions on applications for the potential import andcultivation of GM crops, which develop from discussions with Defra and theother Devolved Administrations, are published on Defra’s website at:
www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/regulation/registers.htmon behalf of the joint UK competent authority. Applications for the approvalof GM crops for non-food use will continue to be considered under thisDirective.
