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Chamber and committees

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Laying of the draft Joint Fisheries Statement in the Scottish Parliament

Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, from the Convener, 17 January 2022

Dear Finlay,

Laying of the draft Joint Fisheries Statement in the Scottish Parliament

Earlier today I responded to question S6W-05752 from Karen Adam MSP regarding the Scottish Government’s progress on drafting the Joint Fisheries Statement under the Fisheries Act 2020 (the Act). I am mindful that the Rural Affairs Islands and Natural Environment committee is likely to be asked by Parliament to conduct scrutiny of the Joint Fisheries Statement and, for this reason, I wanted to write to advise the Committee of the timeframe and the proposed security period outlined in the Act.

As you will be aware, Section 2 of the Act requires the fisheries policy authorities (UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Irish Executive) to prepare and publish a Joint Fisheries Statement that:

  • sets out the policies of the fisheries policy authorities for achieving, or contributing to the achievement of, the fisheries objectives in the Act;
  • contains a statement explaining the use the fisheries policy authorities propose to make of fisheries management plans in order to achieve, or contribute to the achievement of, those fisheries objectives; and
  • contains a statement explaining how those fisheries objectives have been interpreted and proportionately applied in formulating those policies and proposals.

I am happy to share the draft Joint Fisheries Statement with you today, which has been written collaboratively by officials each of the four administrations in the UK. It can be found Consultation on the draft Joint Fisheries Statement - Scottish Government - Citizen Space

The Act requires the fisheries policy authorities to specify a “scrutiny period”. I am proposing that this period should run from 17 January – 25 February 2022. This will allow the Scottish Parliament to synchronise its scrutiny process with the other UK legislatures. It is also our intention that the draft Joint Fisheries Statement will be the subject of a public consultation from 18 January – 12 April 2022.

Yours sincerely,

Mairi Gougeon

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