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The Scottish Government strongly welcomes the British Ecological Society’s report and its emphasis on an ecosystems approach. This aligns with the focus in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and draft Environment Strategy on ecosystem health and integrity, in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework.

In developing statutory nature restoration targets, we are also working to develop a target focused on Ecosystem Health and Integrity, using the Red List of Ecosystems indicator framework.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42391 on 9 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42391 on 9 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

LFASS is an area-based payment under article 31 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 focuses on providing financial support to farmers operating in areas that face natural or other specific constraints.

The eligibility is contained within The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2010 which were developed and approved by the European Union at that time.

The importance of supporting our producers on our most constrained land is very well understood. We are committed to a thriving rural Scotland, and we are working with all stakeholders to ensure that our remote communities, and those producing in areas of constraint, are supported through the new framework.

Thousands of farmers in rural areas will begin receiving LFASS payments totalling more than £56m this week. This highlights our continuing commitment to investing in rural Scotland and supporting our iconic livestock sector.

Scottish Government remains fully committed to co-developing the future payment framework of the four-tier support system. We will work with our farmers, crofters and stakeholders to ensure any changes to LFA support continue to deliver stability and investment.

All the 2024 LFASS payment calculations were, in part, based on historic data.

Part of the payment calculation includes values based on a historic year, which stem from farming activity at that time.

The Scottish Government plan to publish a new infrastructure delivery pipeline alongside the Scottish Spending Review in January which will set out our future investment plans underpinned by a 30-year needs assessment and a draft infrastructure strategy for consultation. The draft strategy will set out a ten-year framework to guide infrastructure planning, investment, and delivery across the country and seek views on how we can better embed local priorities into investment decisions in line with our National Planning Framework 4.

We are committed to delivering key infrastructure projects and we have a proven track record of successfully doing so across Scotland. In the north east this has included the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty scheme, the Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Improvement Project, and the A92/A96 Haudagain Junction Improvement project.

The Scottish Government is also investing significant amounts of funding in City and Regional Growth Deals across Scotland including the Tay Cities Region Deal, the Moray Growth Deal, and the Aberdeen City Region Deal. In addition, we are also investing further funding in the north east of Scotland’s infrastructure over the same time span as the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the fishing sector in Scotland.

Our work to secure sustainable fishing opportunities for Scottish vessels through our international negotiations, which is informed by our science advice, is critical to supporting economic growth and development within the fishing industry. Our quota management approach ensures the quota is translated into opportunities for the Scottish industry and licencing supports the proper functioning of the fishing industry and the responsible management by the fishing fleet. Our enforcement efforts underpin sustainable fisheries management, delivering confidence and accountability in our sea fisheries which supports a positive brand and marketplace for Scottish seafood.

In addition to this, we support the fishing sector through a modernisation programme to ensure the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s fish stocks and to provide confidence from an economic perspective. The Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy and the subsequent delivery plan, which apply across the fishing fleet, includes a range of actions focussed on delivering sustainability for Scotland’s fishing sector, including commitments to strengthening and modernising regulation to support sustainable fishing practices, increasing the volume of fish landed into Scottish ports, and increasing resilience within the sector.

We also provide direct financial support through the Marine Fund Scotland (MFS) which provided £14 million this year to support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, research, innovation, and support coastal communities around Scotland. Since 2021, the MFS has awarded £70 million to 390 projects, enabling over £150 million investment. This includes £4.6 million to projects in the North East, including £1.2 million to Peterhead Port Authority.

This MFS support shows how derisory the allocation of just £28 million over 12 years of the £360 million Fishing and Coastal Fund is. It is a hammer blow for our fishing sector given that it equates to only 7.78% of this new funding. Scotland accounts for over 60% of the UK’s fishing capacity and seafood exports, with Scottish vessels landing over 75% of UK quota species. Scotland’s allocation should be at least 46%, reflecting our share of the UK’s EU fisheries funding.

The 2024 Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics show that the number of active Scottish fishing vessels was 1,998, a modest decrease of 8 vessels compared to 2023. The fleet remains dominated by vessels under 10 metres in length, which have increased by five per cent since 2015, while the number of larger vessels over 10 metres has declined by 16 per cent over the same period.

In terms of employment, 3,735 fishers were working on Scottish vessels in 2024, down 48 compared to 2023. This continues a longer-term trend, with changes reflecting a range of factors including access to labour, technological advances and market conditions.

Despite this consolidation, the sector’s overall performance remains strong. In 2024, Scottish vessels landed 561 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish worth £756 million — the highest value and tonnage recorded in the past ten years.

The Scottish Government remains committed to working with industry, coastal communities and stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and thriving future for Scotland’s fisheries.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advice is challenging for a number of our key stocks this year across the Northeast Atlantic, not least the iconic stocks of cod and mackerel. There are many factors that may be contributing to this, such as natural mortality, climate impacts and low recruitment across the North East Atlantic.

North Sea cod is not collapsing. The ICES advice shows a stark picture of the health of the southern substock, and this is primarily what is driving down the overall advice. The immediate priority must be the implementation of spatial management measures that restrict potential catches of that southern stock. We already have significant measures in place in Scottish waters and we are reviewing these to see what, if any, improvements can be made.

The advice for mackerel is unprecedented, well below anything we have seen on the ICES advice sheetsat least since 1987. Scotland continues to work with the UK Government and our Coastal State neighbours to agree a comprehensive sharing arrangement. ICES advice clearly demonstrates the importance of the interim steps taken by the UK, Norway and the Faroe Islands, whose agreement immediately reduced the total outtake of the stock, representing a step towards more sustainable fishing, whilst the wider sharing discussions continue.

Our stocks are jointly managed with the fishing nations around us, with negotiations currently ongoing. It is important that we continue to work together to balance sustainably managed fish stocks and a sustainable and prosperous industry and coastal communities. Whilst there is some challenging advice there are also many stocks where the picture remains more positive and the overall trend is good. The Scottish Sustainable Fishing Indicator (SFI), which summarises the sustainability status of commercial fish and shellfish stocks in Scottish waters, shows that the sustainability status of stocks in Scottish waters has increased through time, from 39% in 1995 to 73% in 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W 41083 on 21 October 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.