Seòmar agus comataidhean

While the management of Scottish waters is an area of devolved competency, the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government and other devolved administrations through the delivery of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI) which is a joint plan for tackling bycatch across the UK to minimise, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of sensitive marine species.

It is important to note that all vessels authorised to operate in Scottish waters do so under the appropriate licences, and are obliged to follow Scottish domestic management rules. This includes a mandatory requirement for all vessels (including EU vessels) operating in UK waters to report all incidences of marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation.

Sustainability, support for biodiversity, and consideration of the wider ecosystem is at the heart of how we manage Scotland’s fisheries and protect our marine environment. For this reason, actions contained within both Scotland Fisheries Management Strategy and in the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland, sets out our ambition for the sustainable management and shared stewardship of Scotland’s seas and coasts.

I am pleased to announce a package of support, co-funded with Nationwide Foundation, of up to £960,000 over the next three years. It will support the staff capacity and expertise within Communities Housing Trust and South of Scotland Community Housing to bring forward the projects in their pipeline to delivery.

This commitment will form part of the Remote, Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan that will be published in the Autumn.

Monitoring compliance with conditions attached to planning permissions is a matter for the relevant planning authority. Planning authorities have a range of enforcement powers, and a general discretion under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to take enforcement action against any breach of planning control if they consider such action to be in the public interest and proportionate to the scale of the breach, having regard to the provisions of the development plan and any other material considerations. The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers have no remit under planning legislation to intervene in or comment on individual cases.

Monitoring compliance with conditions attached to planning permissions is a matter for the relevant planning authority. Planning authorities have a range of enforcement powers, and a general discretion under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to take enforcement action against any breach of planning control if they consider such action to be in the public interest and proportionate to the scale of the breach, having regard to the provisions of the development plan and any other material considerations. The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers have no remit under planning legislation to intervene in or comment on individual cases.

Under planning legislation a failure to comply with a condition of planning consent constitutes a breach of planning control. Monitoring compliance with conditions attached to planning permissions is a matter for the relevant planning authority.

Planning authorities have a range of enforcement powers, and a general discretion under planning legislation to take enforcement action against any breach of planning control if they consider such action to be in the public interest and proportionate to the scale of the breach, having regard to the provisions of the development plan and any other material considerations.

The Scottish Government has not conducted an assessment regarding discharge levels from Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS) in Scottish ports. Whilst statutory port authorities have individual powers to regulate vessel activities within their harbour limits, the responsibility for shipping emission regulations is reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for enforcing all shipping regulations in UK waters, to ensure vessels are meeting UK and international safety and environmental regulations.

As set out in the Bute House Agreement, and our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group report, we are committed to improving the regulatory framework which applies to fish farm containment and escapes. We note calls in the Salmon Interactions Working Group report for escapes to be regulated by licence. We will consider this in forming our policy options, including how the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture would fit within or alongside any enforcement regime. The publication and introduction of a new technical standard is our immediate priority.

In October 2021 we published our response to the Salmon Interactions Working Group (SIWG) report, and we are continuing to progress delivery of those commitments, which include action to minimise the escape of farmed fish to help protect Scotland’s wild salmonid populations.

Alongside our response to the report of the SIWG, the Marine Directorate published its first assessment of genetic introgression in wild salmon in 2021: A national assessment of the influence of farmed salmon escapes on the genetic integrity of wild Scottish Atlantic salmon populations | Marine Scotland Data Publications.

This was the first report as part of the National Introgression Programme for Scotland (NIPS) and based on sampling undertaken in 2018/2019. NIPS is an ongoing nationwide project that is researching the link between fish farm escapes and introgression in wild salmon populations.

In 2021 a second NIPS survey was conducted across the country with samples and data from this is currently being analysed. A further NIPS survey was also initiated in 2023 and sample collection is now underway. Analysis of the NIPS surveys from multiple sampling years will provide a picture of temporal changes in levels of introgression.

We remain committed to working with the sector to reduce the risk of escapes from fish farms, including through the revision and publication of the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, and the introduction of penalties where escapes occur with the ultimate aim of redistributing this money to support wild salmonid conservation and research.

NatureScot are able to license beaver management activities under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994. However the legislation requires the same tests to be met for trapping (or taking) as for killing a protected species and does not require the use of trapping to be considered before a licence for lethal control is granted.

However, NatureScot recognise the hierarchy of impacts of control methods on populations and individual animals and as such have been proactively working with licence holders over the last four years to encourage the use of trapping and translocation wherever this is feasible. Trapping is carried out by NatureScot at no cost to the licence-holder. In their Beaver Management Report for 2022 NatureScot reported the proportion of beavers being removed by trapping as opposed to lethal control had increased from 28% in 2021 to 42% in 2022. The Code of Practice that accompanies lethal control licences also asks licence applicants to consider whether trapping would be a feasible means of control.