Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to prevent so-called "ghost fishing".
“Ghost fishing” results from abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear and has a negative impact on our environment. Some loss is unavoidable because of weather, snagging or gear failure, and fishers make every effort to retrieve this gear where possible. Marine litter resulting from fishing gear is a shared global problem and we will continue our work in Scotland set out in our Marine Litter Strategy, and internationally through the Oslo Paris Convention (OSPAR) and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to help tackle it.
Marine Directorate Coastal Offices currently operate a mechanism for reporting gear loss with an aim of helping fishers work together to recover and identify lost gear. Additionally, in 2020 we introduced The Gear Marking (Scotland) Order, which makes it a legal requirement for a fishing vessel to deploy buoys made for that purpose displaying their name and registration number. This builds on the Best Practice Guidance for Marking Static Fishing Gear we published in 2018 and gives the best possible chance for fishers to be reunited with displaced gear. We are also encouraging the industry to develop voluntary codes of conduct to reduce instances of gear conflict, and our national network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups are the correct medium for such proposals to be developed.
Throughout 2025 we will promote improved gear design to help reduce the risk of loss and resulting environmental impact using the European standard for circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment, published in November 2024. The standard will also support our work with industry to improve the collection and recycling of end-of-life fishing gear when it is brought ashore. We will use the learning from our extensive research over the last 3 years to develop policy options that could help our fleets with their waste management and support the growth of our circular economy. Fishers' professional training modules will continue to educate on the issue of plastic pollution and environmental impact. We will also continue to fund KIMO’s Fishing for Litter programme which is now active in 32 Scottish harbours, enabling the landing of passively caught waste including fishing gear, as well as encouraging responsible waste management.
The intentional disposal of gear at sea remains an offence covered by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) regulations which are enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). We will continue to report information regarding intentional dumping from any fishing vessel through our intelligence system to the MCA.