Chamber and committees

I am pleased to publish today Scotland’s Future Fisheries Management Strategy. It reaffirms the Scottish Government’s commitment to meeting and where possible exceeding international standards, to being a competent and collaborative partner, and to championing Scotland’s fishing industry and our marine environment.

Through the strategy we are setting a course to deliver, as part of our Blue Economy Action Plan, our vision for Scotland to be a world class fishing nation, delivering responsible and sustainable fisheries management. That vision is centred on key themes – transparency, accountability, resilience and responsibility, and of course, sustainability. Sustainability is the overarching driver for fisheries and indeed, the wider marine environment so we will take an ecosystems-based approach to management. But it is also important to seek to achieve a balance between economic, environment and social objectives.

The Strategy sets out a 12 point action plan to underpin our approach. Those actions can only be delivered by working in partnership, and communicating openly and often. We need to be creative in our communications to provide transparency and get the input we need. Our new Regional Inshore Fisheries Group web platform ( https://rifg.scot/ ), launched on 8 December, is just one example of how we will work with our stakeholders to increase accessibility and deliver transparency in our decision making both at a national and local level.

The 12 point action plan can be summarised as follows:

1. We will promote fishing as an attractive and safe career of choice, increasing safety standards, supporting new entrants and promoting fair work.

2. More than ever we want to secure the resilience of the fishing industry. We will do this by strengthening links to local and global markets, encouraging diversification and exploring new fishing opportunities.

3. We will increase the benefit from fishing to local areas, through our allocation of additional quota opportunities, by ensuring quota is in the hands of active fishers, and increasing the volume of fish landed in Scotland including through the Scottish economic link.

4. We want the relationship between the fishing industry and local communities to be a strong one and we will support consumers to buy local and Scottish.

5. We will address issues around the shared marine space, considering how fishing interests can work alongside other marine users including offshore renewables.

6. We will strengthen our co-management processes, supporting transparent and responsive management, and recognising RIFGs as our main management vehicle at a local level.

7. We will deliver a robust licensing regime to manage all vessels fishing in Scottish waters.

8. We will strengthen our quota management processes, supported by the right groups, and expanding the use of TACs where appropriate.

9. We will improve accountability and confidence in our seafood products and fishing operations, fishing at sustainable levels which are based on the best scientific advice, and supported by a robust compliance regime. This will include the introduction of additional monitoring and data collection measures such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM).

10. We will deliver a robust Future Catching Policy in partnership with our stakeholders, and we will apply responsive and proportionate technical and spatial measures, to reduce waste and encourage compliance.

11. We will support biodiversity, take an ecosystem-based approach to management and deliver additional protections for vulnerable areas and stocks.

12. Finally, but of critical importance, we will take action to understand and mitigate the impacts of climate change on our seas and contribute towards net zero by 2045. This will require a transformation across all sectors of our economy and society and fisheries must play its part here to help to create a low carbon economy with clean, green jobs.

These actions are ambitious and wide ranging. But they will secure transformational change over a number of years, and will deliver what I hope is a shared vision for Scotland’s fisheries.

I want to thank all those who have helped us on the journey to create this strategy and look forward to working with all stakeholders to deliver the Strategy and its actions.

The Strategy is available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781800041950 .