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I am pleased to hear that.

It sounds as though that would pull together all the different voices to get a much more balanced approach in advising the Government what its policy should be.

I have found this process incredibly difficult. I represent Argyll and Bute, which is one of the constituencies that are impacted by the decision. I have thought long and hard about this. I have spoken to all the communities that are impacted, and it is clear that we have to strike the right balance between sustainability of stocks and sustainability of communities. What the Government and Marine Scotland have done in relation to the process could have been better, but they have listened to what stakeholders have said.

I agree entirely with what my colleague Ariane Burgess said about ensuring that we continue to pull the right people around the table and listen to them. I appreciate that there are polarised views, but we have to come to some agreement and strike the right balance to ensure the sustainability of the fish and the communities. I will vote against the motion to annul.

I am interested to hear how the Scottish Government could improve current scientific evidence, data collection and monitoring to support future closures and inshore fisheries management more widely. Moving on a wee bit, we have heard a bit about evidence collection. Scientific research costs money, so I am interested to know what additional resources the Scottish Government would benefit from being allocated in relation to its ability to support opportunities for future research.

Would Dr Needle like to add a bit more on the University of Stirling PhD work and collaboration with fishers?

Thank you, Sarah, for coming along. It must be quite daunting to be the only person on the panel, so congratulations for being here.

To follow on from Donald Cameron’s questions, I am also interested in the SPRING project. Healthy Options Oban, which is in my constituency, is involved in the project and does fantastic work.

You talked a bit about collaboration. Can you give us any more information about the fact that the project is a collaboration between Scottish and Northern Irish groups and how that has worked? Perhaps there is something that we can learn from the fact that the funding is coming from different sources.

Thank you.

That is fair. Last week, I asked Robbie McGhee from Arts Culture Health & Wellbeing Scotland about the perception of social prescribing. Members of the public might expect to go to their doctor and simply get antibiotics, so social prescribing could come as a bit of a shock. The issue is about how we get over that barrier, which is something that Healthy Options Oban has done incredibly well.

In the preparation that you did before coming to see us, you put out a survey to your members. Are there any real learning points that we can get from what the members of SENScot have said to you?

I am interested in hearing what other measures could be taken to protect spawning cod.

Yes, convener.