Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 November 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that increasing the west coast haddock total allowable catch quota beyond EU-suggested limits would reduce discards and not remove sustainable stocks and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
The Scottish Government believes that the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) for all fish stocks should be set in line with scientific advice. Despite both ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Seas) and STECF (Scientific Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries) recommending a 410% increase in TAC for West of Scotland haddock, the European Commission is proposing only a 25% increase. Increasing the TAC by 410% would maintain the level of fishing mortality within the MSY (maximum sustainable yield) framework, which the Commission advocates. The SSB (Spawning Stock Biomass - weight of mature fish in the stock) is now above precautionary limits and is increasing steadily. The stock is showing strong signs of recovery and the Scottish Government believes that limiting the TAC to a 25% increase would result in a significant increase in discards, therefore we would prefer to be closer to 410% as justified by scientific advice. While we accept that a large increase in haddock TAC could risk increasing the mortality of West of Scotland cod, we are keen to work with the European Commission to develop appropriate selectivity measures to try and avoid this.