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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 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 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.

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.

From 2019 the landing obligation requires all species subject to a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) be landed irrespective of whether they are above the required marketable size. It is therefore not illegal to land fish below the minimum size if it is recorded and not sold for human consumption. It can be processed for fishmeal or used as bait in creel fisheries. The following link provides further information Landing obligation and discarding - Sea fisheries - gov.scot

The following table details reports where fish below the relevant minimum size was landed to be sold for human consumption.

In relation to Producer Organisations (POs), Scottish Government officials had sought to co-operate with the UK Government in a review of POs. The previous UK government administration had committed to a review of POs (and the retained EU regulations that enabled them) however this did not come about. Given, the pan UK nature of POs (which are governed by guidance developed by the four UK administrations), there are benefits to a joint review. Scottish Government officials will explore the potential for a joint-review with the new UK Government administration in the first instance.

In relation to Quota Management Groups, the Scottish Government is conducting a review of these organisations (which are a Scottish Government initiative and only have remit in Scotland). This review will be published in the coming months.

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.

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

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.