Seòmar agus comataidhean

You say that you have been asking for that for a long time. Do you mean before the money was in place, or have you been asking for the £25 million and the criteria for that to be opened up since the fund was announced? It was announced a year or so ago.

That story is certainly one that I have heard across the Highlands and Islands.

You said that we need to co-ordinate that. I am paraphrasing you, but you used the word “we”. Who is we in that case? Does the Scottish Government need to take that on or would it be HIE? I am sorry to throw work at your door, but who is we?

I will bring in Pam Gosal now. If anyone has anything to add, they are welcome to tuck their comments into their responses to the next questions.

I do, and I might also stray there. Elspeth, it is interesting to hear your concerns about the marine directorate and its capacity to robustly monitor the data. I would be interested in hearing your—and, possibly, Helen McLachlan’s—thoughts around the idea of the data that is generated from REM systems being shared. For example, Peru, in 2018, became the second country in the world to share all of its VMS data.

This is a very interesting conversation. I remind myself that the SSI and REM sit under the United Kingdom Fisheries Act 2020, which calls on us to work with an ecosystems-based approach, and under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. In both cases, we are trying to ensure the long-term success of our fisheries. REM helps us to understand the full picture of the state of our fisheries and how to act appropriately, as and when is needed, in case we find ourselves on the edge of a fisheries collapse.

We have been talking about the data, and I come back to data now. Both the fishing industry and non-governmental organisations have pointed out that REM data could be useful for marine spatial planning and to mitigate the spatial squeeze. I remember the tremendous evening event that the SFF held in the garden lobby a while ago, which raised that issue. I would like to get your views on how REM data could be useful in those ways for marine spatial planning and mitigating against that spatial squeeze. We know that there will be an expansion of renewables, but there are also conservation objectives. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on that, Elspeth—and then perhaps yours, Helen.

I will go back to what I was going to ask. In a way, Elspeth began to answer it, but I would like to go a bit further into use of data. Concern has been raised by stakeholders that the marine directorate may not have the capacity to use all the data. I am interested in understanding that.

I hear what you say about the need for confidentiality, data protection and that kind of thing, but there are examples globally of data sharing. Peru, in 2018, became the second country in the world to share all of its VMS tracking data on the Global Fishing Watch platform, so that anyone can view it. Twelve countries already have data-sharing agreements that allow transparency without breaching commercial confidentiality. There are various ways in which we could do that—for example, by lagging the data sharing by some months and not including individual identifying information. I know that a time lag might not work for an offshore wind company that is trying to get a permission or whatever, but it could work in other situations.

I am interested in hearing what you think about how we could share data so that we could move much more rapidly to understanding what is going on in our seas and get a much better picture.

Good morning, and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2024 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I remind all members and witnesses to ensure that their devices are set to silent.

We have apologies from Gordon MacDonald. I welcome to the meeting Colin Beattie, who is attending as a Scottish National Party substitute member. Mark Griffin is unable to join us for the start of the meeting; he will join us as soon as he can.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on whether to take item 4 in private. Do members agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Willie Coffey has a supplementary.

We do not have a crystal ball for these things, but perhaps we should keep an eye on that.