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I am very concerned about the SSI, the clarity of the technical specifications and the BRIA. The financial considerations that have been presented in the BRIA do not give fishermen confidence. The requirements will cost the sector a lot more than is anticipated and the resource for Marine Scotland and the compliance officers will be significant. I am also not sure about the policy direction with regard to the science and data collection. It seems to me that the process is purely about compliance with a smokescreen around science and data collection to support fishing and the marine area.

I do not object to REM in itself but I am very uncomfortable about where the SSI is taking the fishing sector. I am also concerned that the technical specifications were not consulted on. I appreciate that the cabinet secretary has said that she will issue guidance, but we need to take a collaborative approach because it is those people who are out at sea, in very precarious conditions at times, who need to know what they are doing, how they are going to achieve it, how the data will be used and how GDPR will work with regard to the cameras monitoring their employees.

Right—so we should be content that somebody on a pelagic vessel does not have to come back in to get an engineer; they can fix the winch themselves. Are you confident of that?

When do you expect to get that rich data? Why is there a requirement to monitor the measurements of the lengths and weights of fish in the Scottish pelagic fleet when the fishermen already undertake that themselves for scientific purposes? What has been used by the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland to identify any issues with the data that they currently have?

Well, what are you saying?

I have a quick final question. Cabinet secretary, in the context of the cut of £6.9 million to Marine Scotland’s budget, you said that you were confident that it would be able to track that data and consider it, and that it would have enough compliance officers, and Jane MacPherson also said that there are enough officers across Scotland to deal with that. However, again, that is not what we are hearing. Will you increase the budget for science and compliance if you are trying to achieve more richness of data in future?

Thanks, convener.

Just to be clear, that was not in conversations between Marine Scotland and supermarket retailers; the conversations were between the Scottish Government and supermarket retailers.

Cabinet secretary, you have not consulted on the technical specifications, so how do you know that what you ask for in those tech specs is acceptable?

Can I be clear that there was no consultation on the technical specifications? That is what our adviser said.

I asked the question because you will have read the Official Report of the committee meeting last week, when Ian Gatt said:

“It is not very clear in either the SSI or the technical specification what the requirements would be”.—[Official Report, Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, 24 April 2024; c 10-11.]

In response a question from Karen Adam, he asked for more clarity on that.

Why does the power that the Scottish Government has, even though you have said that it might not be used, apply to pelagic vessels but not to scallop vessels?