Scottish Government

Chapter 1 - The Future of Fishing in Scotland

Introduction

On May 21 2008, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead MSP, launched a consultation on the future of quota management and licensing in Scotland. The consultation was entitled Safeguarding Our Fishing Rights: The Future of Quota Management and Licensing in Scotland. It sought views on proposals for a new quota management and licensing system in Scotland. The aim was to implement arrangements tailored to fit Scotland's needs, support a sustainable, profitable and well-managed industry and in particular, seek to maintain fishing rights in traditional fishing communities.

Fishing rights are assets of national importance - the lifeblood of many of our coastal communities and one of the most important benefits flowing from our marine resource. Fisheries management is devolved under the Scotland Act 1998. Until now, quota management and licensing arrangements have been overseen by the four UK Fisheries Administrations acting jointly. As policy objectives and fleet structures have diverged, this situation has constrained the Scottish Government's ability to put in place arrangements tailored to our circumstances and to meet the needs of the Scottish industry.

This is unsatisfactory given the significant contribution made by fisheries to many of our coastal communities, and national economy. The Scottish fish industry (sea fishing and processing sector) accounts for 1% of Scottish GDP compared to 0.1% for the UK as a whole. Fishing is 10 times more important to Scotland in pure economic terms than it is to the UK. Unsurprisingly given these considerations around 70% of key quotas allocated to the UK are held by Scottish interests; Indeed, we have around 20 travel to work areas that are fishing dependent compared to just four elsewhere in the UK. The fleet structure in Scotland, dominated by family based vessel partnerships, the vast majority of which remain indigenously owned, contrasts with the ownership structure in some other areas of the UK fleet.

The Scottish Government wishes to safeguard the industry in Scotland moving forward and in particular to ensure that fishing rights remain accessible to traditional fishing communities with high levels of fishing dependence. While we consider that those who hold and fish quotas should have security of access to fish and a stable platform from which to grow their business, we do not believe in privatising fishing rights ( ITQs) because of the inherent risks involved to our many fishing communities. We are concerned about a drift towards privatisation in quota management in the UK in recent years and note that this is out of step with our European competitors. If fishing rights migrate from our fishing communities, as they have done in other areas of the UK, this will jeopardise the whole structure of the industry in Scotland both at sea and onshore. Given the high levels of economic interdependency between different sectors of the fleet we note that this only needs to happen in one significant fleet segment for unwelcome effects to be apparent for the industry and fishing communities more generally.

That is why we proposed distinct quota management and licensing arrangements in Scotland that aim to:

• Help to ensure that Scottish fishing communities retain their fishing rights, now and for the future, so that fishing rights remain an asset available to the industry in Scotland moving forward.
• Promote a shared approach between the fishing industry and the Scottish Government to managing quota in Scotland.
• Encourage quotas to be held by those who can fish them (close to the producer) so that they remain in the hands of the fishing industry and so prevent them from becoming a speculative asset.
• Provide a stable regulatory environment for the Scottish fishing fleet, for those investing in its future, and for the wider fishing communities.
• Encourage the growth of fishing businesses, regeneration of the fleet, and to keep down the cost of quota.

Consultation

The consultation period ran from May 21 until August 21 2008. Copies of the consultation were sent to stakeholders across Scotland and the rest of the UK, including Scottish licence holders, UK producer organisations, regional authorities, fishing representative bodies, agencies of the Scottish Government and conservation groups, see Annex A. The consultation document ( ISBN 9780755957866) was also made available online on the Scottish Government website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19155732/0

The consultation generated 61 formal written responses from a range of stakeholders (see table below), and Annex B. The type of responses varied from very detailed answers - addressing each question in turn - to those providing comment on general principles. As expected, within such a diverse industry, there was considerable difference of views.

Representatives of the Marine Directorate also took part in a series of 25 meetings around Scotland as part of the consultation process. Attended by over 350 fishermen and other stakeholders, these meetings gave interested parties an opportunity to ask questions, and clarify and discuss matters in greater detail. Officials welcomed the opportunity to hear at first hand what fishing communities thought of the proposals. It was interesting to note that sometimes different opinions were expressed by Fishermen's Associations and Producer Organisations, despite sometimes significant crossover in membership. This is perhaps to be expected, and one reason why stakeholder meetings proved so valuable.

Next Steps

Careful consideration has been given to the responses to consultation. This has been a lengthy process, not least because of the nature of the responses where alternative measures in some instances were proposed. These have required careful consideration and we plan a further round of consultation to seek stakeholder opinion on these alternative options. As minds are now focussed on the important year end discussions and lead up to December Council, we believe it is sensible to delay any decisions until early in the New Year.

In January we will publish an interim outcome report which will set out the Scottish Government's response to the views expressed, and seek your further opinion on some of the ideas put to us during the consultation. Following this short period of consultation, decisions of Scottish Ministers on measures to be adopted under a Scottish quota management system will then be detailed in a final outcome report, and enshrined in a set of Scottish quota management rules.

In the meantime, we thought it would be helpful to summarise the views we have received to the consultation in this report.

Looking ahead, we plan to have a phased implementation of quota and licensing arrangements in Scotland during next year. We plan to establish a Scottish licensing system, implement the 2006 Licence Review Working Group recommendations in full, and establish a Scottish licence review group in the first quarter of 2009. Work will start on reforming Producer Organisations in Scotland, along with an initiative to attract new entrants into the industry. An announcement on other quota management measures will be made following the publication of our final outcome report early in the New Year. Until new Scottish quota management and licensing rules are in place, the current management arrangements shall continue to apply. It is anticipated that a new system will be fully implemented and in operation from January 2010.

Contact Details

Email: quotamanagement@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Tel : 0131 244 4766/6436
Fax: 0131 244 6288