Seòmar agus comataidhean

As announced by the British and Irish Governments on 28 July, the Irish Government will host the next Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Dublin on Tuesday 31 October 2000.

Net and coble fisheries were operated in 1998 (the last year for which data is available) in the following salmon fishery districts:

Tweed, Forth, Tay, Esk, Don, Ythan, Ugie, Lossie, Ness, Conon, Kyle of Sutherland, Caithness, Loch Roag, Loch Long, Crowe and Shiel, Baa (Mull), Creran, Nell, Laggan (Islay), Iorsa (Arran), Cree, Nith.

The number of employees in any given month varied between a minimum of four and a maximum of 168.

Fixed engine fisheries were operated in 1998 (the last year for which data area available) in the following salmon fishery districts:

Tweed, Esk, Dee (Aberdeenshire), Don, Ythan, Conon, Kyle of Sutherland, Caithness, Halladale, Strathy, North and West, Torridon, Lochaber, Baa (Mull), Awe, Add, Loch Fyne, Luce, Bladnoch, Cree, Fleet (Kirkcudbright), Dee (Kirkcudbright), Urr, Nith, Annan.

The number of employees in any given month varied between a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 266.

Salmon netting is regulated under the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1868; the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Protection) (Scotland) Act 1951; the Salmon Act 1968; and through further subordinate legislation relating to annual close times, definition of methods and construction of nets.

I have requested specific advice on this issue from the Natural Environment Research Council as part of their advice on management of seal populations for this current year.

Meanwhile a range of individual research projects are currently underway to investigate different aspects of the interactions between seals and fish. These include investigations into seals and salmon on the River Conon and into the feeding habits and movements of seals in Lochs Shieldaig and Torridon in relation to the movements of salmonid fishes. Possible collaborative research between the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St. Andrews and SERAD Fisheries Research Services is under consideration.

No Scottish Statutory Instruments are laid before Westminster. However, there have been a number of Scottish Statutory Instruments relating to fisheries for which no equivalent legislation has yet been laid in Westminster. These are:

The Shellfish (Specification of Molluscs and Crustaceans)(Scotland) Order 1999

The Shetland Islands Regulated Fishery (Scotland) Order 1999

The River Forth Salmon Fishery District (Baits and Lures) Regulations 1999

The River Don Salmon Fishery District (Baits and Lures) Regulations 1999

The Loch Moidart, North Channel, Scallop Several Fishery (Scotland) Order 2000

The Sea Fishing (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) (Scotland) Order 2000

The Prohibition of Fishing with Multiple Trawls (Scotland) Order 2000

Under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970, a total of 31 applications for licences to shoot seals during close seasons were lodged with the Scottish Executive in the last five years (1995-99 inclusive). 24 of these applications were granted.

I shall be arranging for a note to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre setting down the current position on the recommendations in the report.

There are a number of bodies concerned with the protection of wild fish stocks: that with specific responsibility for wild salmon is the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO). One of the contracting parties to NASCO is the European Union whose delegate from the European Commission is supported by member states. The Scottish Executive is normally represented by the head of the relevant Division in the Rural Affairs Department and by the Inspector of Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries.

NASCO meets normally once a year. Its next annual general meeting is due to be held in June 2001.

Updating earlier studies, the Scottish Salmon Strategy Task Force estimated that the net economic value of salmon board fisheries in Scotland in 1995 was £350 million, with a range from £270 million to £430 million. Total expenditure by anglers was estimated at an additional £70 million.

A study commissioned by the Tweed Foundation in 1996 revealed that the Tweed Salmon Fisheries brought £12.5 million a year to the Borders economy. A recent study by the Western Isles Fisheries Trust, in conjunction with Western Isles Enterprise and Western Isles Council, estimates that in 1999 angling contributed £5.6 million to the local economy.

The Scottish Executive is currently seeking to encourage boards to include greater economic data in their annual reports.

The District Salmon Fishery Board Order 1999, which came into force on 3 May 1999, amended Schedule 2 of the Salmon Act 1986 governing the composition of District Salmon Fishery Boards. The aim of the 1999 Order was to give boards greater flexibility in determining optimum size and structure. Three Designation Orders (Lochaber, Conon and North and West) have since been made and a fourth application (Western Isles) is currently under consideration.

Discussions between Salmon Fishery Boards and local Fishery Trusts, on which boards are represented, is a matter for the bodies concerned. However, the Scottish Executive is an active partner in the Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre which brings together Trusts and boards across much of Scotland with the aim of providing a better understanding of the national fishery resources and of encouraging collaboration and co-ordination between them and other organisations with an interest in fishery matters. In addition the Scottish Executive, through the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory, works closely with Trust and board biologists.