Seòmar agus comataidhean

Yes, as much as it is possible to do that. As I said, we need to ensure that we have flexibility to deal with the challenges that we face. In my first response, I outlined the overall SEPA fin-fish framework and the different phases of work that are being taken forward by consolidating SEPA as the overall environmental regulator. That helps significantly in the process.

I do not know whether we have the figures for comparison with the industries in other countries. Perhaps we can provide them later.

That is set out in regulations—they need to be disposed of in a certain way. Jill Barber might be able to give a bit more information on that. It is probably important to mention how some of the figures are recorded. Some of the mortalities are not necessarily an indictment or reflective of the husbandry of those animals, as they include things such as sub-optimal ova.

I hand over to Jill Barber.

I do not have that information on the inspection rate to hand. I do not know whether it is information that officials have, but I will be happy to provide it to you and the committee.

On community involvement and engagement through that process, are you talking particularly about the—

Absolutely. Rhoda Grant touched on that issue, too. We have to ensure that we have in place the basic infrastructure, transport connectivity, housing in rural areas and so on. You are absolutely right. Aside from the fish farmers themselves, this is an industry that pretty much touches every part of Scotland, whether rural or not. I recognise the importance of your point.

I have not been alerted to any potential loopholes. As I said, the fish health inspectorate undertakes inspections and monitoring.

Jill, do you have any further information on that?

We would not be content with that, and I do not think that anybody would be content with it, if you were to look at the figure in that way. Obviously, we want mortality levels to be at the absolute lowest possible level. A variety of factors can have an impact throughout the cycle, but we would not be content with that and would want them to be at the absolute lowest level.

I obviously want Scotland to produce the highest-quality product, but I disagree with the assertion that we are somehow more relaxed in our regulation. We can certainly make improvements to the process, which is why we are undertaking the programme of work that we have set out with the consenting task group to streamline the process. It is not about deregulating; we want to make sure that our regulation system and consenting processes are efficient, effective and transparent. It is not a fair comparison to say that we sit below the Faroe Islands and Norway when it comes to regulation.

Your question is in relation to the penalty fees that we receive for escapes. We have already made commitments as to what we would look to do with any increase in penalties, and work on that is on-going. We have also outlined some of the work that we need to do in the implementation plan for the wild salmon strategy that we published earlier this year. We said initially that we would be looking to ring fence any moneys received from that to support research into wild salmon and any work that needs to be taken forward on that. However, that work still needs to be undertaken, so we have not made any firm decisions yet.