- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how the importation of fish eggs for the ultimate purpose of stocking our freshwater fisheries is regulated, how many applications there have been for import in each of the last five years, how many applications were accepted and what type of eggs were imported.
Answer
Importation is regulated by the Fish Health Regulations 1997 and the Diseases of Fish Act 1937 for imports from EU and non-EU countries respectively.
Fish eggs of native species can be imported, without application, from EU zones and farms with fish health status equivalent to our own, provided consignments are notified in advance. No notifications have been made in the last five years. No applications from non-EU countries have been made or granted in the last five years.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make any financial assistance available for any fishermen who stand to lose income due to the current restrictions on scallop fishing.
Answer
It has been the policy of successive governments not to compensate for losses due to disease or other natural phenomena in the marine environment. The Scottish Executive sees no case to change that position.
More generally, financial assistance for the industry will be available under the new Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) programme.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research into the impact of industrial fishing on freshwater fisheries and wild fish stocks and, if so, when this was carried out and what the results were.
Answer
During the 1990s, Fisheries Research Services participated in a number of collaborative projects to address the issue of whether the sandeel fishery had potential implications for wild salmonid stocks.
Direct impacts were investigated by placing observers on sandeel trawlers off the Scottish east coast. No by-catch of salmon smolts was encountered. Potential indirect effects include the suggestion that the sandeel fishery might remove an important source of food for salmonids. An assessment of this possibility concluded that sandeels were just one of many prey species taken by salmonids, and that a properly managed sandeel fishery was unlikely to threaten the availability of this particular food source.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many submissions relating to Protecting and Promoting Scotland's Freshwater Fish and Fisheries it has received, whether it will continue to accept submissions and when it expects to publish its final proposals for consultation.
Answer
As at 24 August, 186 responses had been received. The closing date for submissions, originally scheduled for 4 August, was extended to 31 August. An analysis of the responses will be undertaken and a statement on follow-up action will be made in due course.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those government or external fisheries advisory or policy making groups (a) sponsored by the Rural Affairs Department or (b) on which the Scottish Executive is represented.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has established a number of standing advisory groups on fisheries matters, including the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group, the Tripartite Working Group and the Aquaculture Health Joint Working Group, and also sets up ad hoc groups from time to time to consider specific issues.
The Scottish Executive is represented on a wide range of UK and international advisory and policy making groups which consider issues of relevance to fisheries.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the value of the scallop industry in Scotland was for each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answer
The value of scallop and queen scallop landings into Scotland by UK vessels in the last three years was £17.81 million in 1997, £17.98 million in 1998 and £16.48 million in 1999. The Scottish Executive does not hold figures for the sell-on value to the scallop industry after landing.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has increased the resources available for research into the shellfish toxin Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning and, if so, by how much.
Answer
Following the widespread occurrence of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) in 1999 a new three-year research project, with an annual estimated cost of £27,498, was commenced in April 2000. The objectives of the project are to identify the algal species responsible for ASP and to assess their seasonal and geographical distribution.
In addition the Food Standards Agency is committed to spend nearly £1 million in the next three years on research into algal toxins, of which one third can be attributed to ASP.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 11 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to assist fishermen in relation to the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (Scotland) Order 2000 and the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (No.2) (Scotland) Order 2000.
Answer
My answer to question S1W-9281 confirms the Scottish Executive's position on compensation and possible assistance for the scallop sector through the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) programme.
In February this year, I introduced a relaxation to licensing and quota management provisions to allow certain vessels with Category C licences which were affected by the scallop fishery closures to fish for West of Scotland nephrops until the end of August.
In view of the most recent closures off the west coast, I have decided to extend this relaxation to the end of the year.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 July 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 7 September 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of their annual capital depreciation each NHS Trust's formula capital allocation for the financial year ended 31 March 2000 represents.
Answer
A Trust's annual capital depreciation charge is calculated on the estimated working lives of assets and formula capital allocation is only part of a Trust's potential capital investment, as a result, it is not possible to draw a meaningful comparison between the two in isolation.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 July 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 30 August 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many court orders have had the effect of adding names to the register of sex offenders maintained by each police force since the registers were first kept, broken down by police force.
Answer
This information is not held centrally but we understand that since their introduction on 1 December 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act, there have been two occasions where a Sex Offender Order granted by the courts has had the effect of adding the name of an individual, not previously on the register, to the register of sex offenders - one each in the Dumfries & Galloway and Fife police force areas.
