Chamber and committees

Given the importance of sandeels to the wider ecosystem and the subsequent benefit in aiding long-term sustainability and resilience, it remains an overarching Scottish Government position, which is reflected in Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy, not to support fishing for sandeels in our waters. During the parliamentary session on the 09 June, I committed to looking at this issue as a matter of urgency and to consider what additional measures we can put in place to manage the North Sea sandeel fisheries in the most sustainable way possible.

There are also a number of measures already in place for the protection of sandeel stocks in the North Sea. The Northeast UK closed area means that that over half the grounds of sandeel area 4 are closed to fishing. In addition, the Scottish Government has made major steps in protecting areas of key importance to sandeel through the designation of a network of Marine Protected Areas focussed on areas important to sandeel populations.