Seòmar agus comataidhean

Following the announcement of an Enterprise and Skills Review by the First Minister on 25 May 2016 Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) appointed an interim Chief Executive. This followed the departure of Alex Paterson and was agreed pending the outcome of the review. The interim Chief Executive was appointed on 26 August.

The phase 1 report of the Enterprise and Skills review published on 25 October confirmed that we will maintain dedicated support which is locally based, managed and directed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. We are engaging with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to agree the appropriate time to commence recruitment and the approach to the recruitment process.

In Scottish waters responsibility for ensuring compliance with the Landing Obligation (LO) rests with Marine Scotland, working with Defra and the UK’s other Devolved Administrations to ensure compliance across the UK. After an advisory period, and for the vessels for which it is responsible, Marine Scotland will seek to ensure that fishing vessels comply with LO requirements while working at sea and on landing through inspections.

Fishing vessels are selected for inspection at sea using a risk-based and intelligence-led approach. Any illegal discarding or high grading discovered is dealt with in line with Marine Scotland’s compliance strategy. Marine Scotland Fishery Officers have received guidance and instruction on the LO, covering both pelagic and demersal fisheries. This guidance is updated in line with regulatory changes every year, and Fishery Officers monitor fish markets and landings.

Marine Scotland vessels are certificated by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency with a Safe Manning Document. This specifies the safe manning complement for each vessel. At no time has Marine Scotland sailed any of its vessels below the safe manning complement.

In addition to the safe manning complement each vessel has an operational complement. This is set higher than the safe manning complement to ensure operational flexibility. This allows Marine Scotland to sail vessels when a crew member calls off at the last minute or requires to be landed during the course of a voyage. The occasions where mariners had to be put ashore, from the start of April 2016 to date, are listed in the following table. No delays in sailing have occurred due to shortage of operational complement.

The number of vessels that have participated in the remote electronic monitoring (REM) fully documented fisheries schemes operated by Marine Scotland across the years 2014 to 2016 are shown in the following table.

The Marine Scotland Science (MSS) and the Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF) observer schemes cover a random sample of all Scottish demersal and nephrops vessels. The at sea coverage for the period 2014 to 2016 (to 18 October) is shown in the following table. The bracketed values indicate the percentage of all trips covered by the observer programme, while the SFF trips also cover those trips dedicated to other projects.

All inspections carried out with regard to pelagic species (from 2015 onwards) and with regard to pelagic and demersal species (2016 onwards) are undertaken with a view to detecting infringements, including landing obligation infringements.

The figures for the years requested are as follows:

*2016 is an incomplete year

To date there have been three infringements of the landing obligation detected where officers referred the case to Marine Scotland Compliance Enforcement Branch for consideration of enforcement action.

The Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have maintained dialogue with Rio Tinto throughout the Lochaber strategic review with a view to securing the best outcome for the workers and local community.

We are hopeful that Lochaber smelter will be sold as a going concern and that aluminium production at Fort William, which begun in 1929, will continue for many generations to come.

All efforts of Government and our agencies are directed towards that end.

The Scottish Government and Rio Tinto’s Lochaber workforce were informed on 21 October 2016 that as an outcome of the strategic review the Rio Tinto Board had agreed to consider a sale of its Lochaber assets and that discussions with a potential buyer would begin.

The Government understands that a sale of the assets is not automatic and confidential commercial negotiations are on-going.

While the commercial process continues all parties are bound to respect strict boundaries of commercial confidentiality.

The Scottish Government, through is agencies Highlands and Island Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland, has been represented at the meetings of the Regional Economic Development Joint Working Group set up by Rio Tinto, to examine economic development opportunities in the Fort William area. Minutes of the meetings are shared with members of the Joint Working Group, the group last met on the 6 September 2016 and is due to meet again on the 6 December.

The Scottish Government has met with a range of representatives of Rio Tinto, both from the Lochaber business (Rio Tinto Alcan) and from the parent company. In discussions with Rio Tinto the Government has signalled its willingness to explore options of assistance in the maintenance and creation of employment in Lochaber in the context of promoting sustainable economic growth.

The Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity met with senior representatives of Rio Tinto regarding the company’s Lochaber strategic review on 4 October 2016. Subsequently on 21 October, Rio Tinto announced to its Lochaber workforce that the company’s Board had agreed to consider a sale of its Lochaber assets.