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The Scottish Government is currently supporting a UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project on “Co-designing an Evaluation Framework for Recruitment and Retention of Domestic Seafood Workers”. This project includes a survey and focus groups with people working in fishing, processing and aquaculture across the UK, including Scotland. The project will seek to explore questions related to barriers and opportunities for new entrants and across different project stages.

We set up the Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) Climate Change Subgroup in early 2023 to help guide us and to build our knowledge and understanding of both climate mitigation and adaptation. The group is formed of industry reps, eNGOs, academia, as well as organisations such as Seafish and Fisheries Innovation and Sustainability.

We will work with the subgroup to understand what options for reducing emissions from fishing can be taken in the short, medium and long-term and develop a plan of actions.

We acknowledge that there is an overall lack of data and evidence on women in fisheries for a number of reasons, and we agree that steps are needed to improve this. This is an important issue and many of these gaps will need to be filled in collaboration with the industry and the wider research communities.

The Commercial Fisher Social Survey Scotland pilot is testing methods to deliver a representative social survey with the goal of capturing diverse industry voices and addressing underrepresented groups like crew members and a range of onshore roles that women may be involved in.

The Strategy for Seafood was developed in discussion with key stakeholders across the seafood sector. This was primarily via meetings with producer organisations, regional fisheries groups, representatives of the processing industry and a number of further organisations with an interest. This engagement highlighted a number of ongoing issues which the sector was experiencing. This included access to sustainable funding support; approaches to marine spatial planning; support with technical trade issues; simplified access to support; labour shortages; coordinated marketing support; and coherent and collaborative marine management.

The Strategy was also informed via wider industry engagement relating to seafood trade that was ongoing during its development. This included a questionnaire issued to key industry stakeholders in 2021 which sought to understand barriers to seafood trade and any support required.

Marine and aerial taskings are determined by a rigorous risk assessment process, using live data and intelligence to prioritise the areas where assets are directed.

In 2024 our three patrol ships carried out 866 patrol days, and our two-surveillance aircraft undertook 165 flights, it is therefore not possible to describe the routes taken other than to state they include Rockall, Shetland, the West Coast and North Sea.

A copy of a document detailing heat maps showing patrol areas for each year has been provided to the Scottish Parliaments Information Centre (Bib number is 65620)

I understand the concerns around increasing competition for marine space and the different pressures on various marine activities.

I welcomed publication of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations’ and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation’s joint report, ‘Spatial Squeeze in Fisheries’ in June 2022. I am very aware of the potential cumulative impacts on the fishing industry and my officials and I continue to engage stakeholders to explore this issue within the policy development process.

Effectively managing how we use our marine space is critical in our transition to net zero, the achievement of our national and international biodiversity commitments and to maximise the opportunities a blue economy approach can deliver for our marine industries and communities.

That is why we have committed to developing a new National Marine Plan for Scotland (NMP2). Marine planning is a powerful tool for managing multiple uses of our seas by bringing together different interests and seeks to balance the needs of people and our environment through decision-making. Encouraging economic growth across both developing and existing marine sectors is a key priority.

A new planning framework as part of NMP2 must help facilitate this, and further action aimed at tackling the climate and nature emergency. Delivering a new National Marine Plan relies on speaking and working with those who know our seas best. We have taken forward a number of engagement events that have discussed the full range of marine planning issues, of which pressures on the marine space has been a high level topic. Please find details of these below:

Fisheries stakeholders present:

• 22-06-2023 – NMP Forum, in-person event at EICC, Edinburgh
• 20-06-2024 – NMP2 HLO Fisheries workshop, virtual
• 22-8-2024 – NMP2 Fisheries in-person workshop at FSS offices in Aberdeen
• 13-11-2024 - NMP Forum, in-person event in Stirling
• 21-01-2025 – NMP2 Community Engagement drop-in session, virtual meeting

Environmental stakeholders present:

• 22-06-2023 – NMP Forum, in-person event at EICC, Edinburg
• 11-01-2024 – NMP2 consultation authorities workshop, VQ
• 02-02-2024 – Meeting with consultation authorities, VQ
• 23-4-2024 – NMP2 HLO workshop with Consultation authorities, VQ
• 25-8-2024 – NMP2 HLO and draft policy ideas workshop with eNGOs, virtual
• 30-5-2024 – NMP2 HLO Workshop with young Environmentalists, virtual
• 13-8-2024 – NMP2 HLO follow-up discussion with Young Environmentalists, virtual
• 15-8-2024 - NMP2 Environment follow-up discussion on HLO and draft policy ideas, virtual meeting
• 13-11-2024 - NMP Forum, in-person event in Stirling
• 21-01-2025 – NMP2 Community Engagement drop-in session, virtual meeting

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33850 on 31 January 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

Our commitment to Scotland’s seafood sector was reflected in the publication of the Strategy for Seafood in October 2022. While there are no current plans to update this document, Scottish Government will continue to work with industry to realise our ambitions for the sector. This includes continuing to work with the sector on trade barriers arising from EU Exit, which has impaired the competitiveness of Scottish seafood.

The Scottish Government’s understanding of regional trade flows in seafood is informed by a range of sources. Primary data relating to the seafood industry including fisheries, aquaculture, processing, trade, and retail statistics is either collected by the Scottish Government (for example, Scotland’s Sea Fisheries Statistics), collected by relevant UK Government Departments (for example HM Revenue & Custom’s international trade statistics or the Office for National Statistic’s Living Costs and Food Survey), or collected by industry bodies (for example Seafish’s Processing Sector Survey). Relevant HMRC datasets that are of particular relevance include the Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) and Regional Trade Statistics (RTS) publications.

The member should also note ongoing research as part of the Scottish Government’s Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) 2022-27 research programme which includes a project focused on understanding Scottish food supply chains, including seafood. The project aims to develop a better understanding of seafood being produced in Scotland, what is imported and exported, and how that relates to what we eat and what we should be eating in terms of recommended amounts of seafood consumption.

These various sources all inform Scottish Government’s approach to the seafood industry and seafood trade.

We are aware that the fishing sector is not always understood as welcoming to women which can discourage women from entry. There are also reports of sexist attitudes, behaviour and language and this is unacceptable.

We would benefit from further research into views of men (of different ages) working in seafood jobs towards women and how these are changing, and we would be happy to explore options for collaborative working and for actions to be developed in partnership with the fishing industry and the wider research communities.