Chamber and committees

Does a year not seem like an awfully long time?

Are you satisfied with the level of monitoring that you are doing? Are you satisfied with the capacity to monitor effectively?

Stakeholders have raised concerns about SEPA’s capacity to monitor sea bed survey results, saying that the pace is very slow. The Coastal Communities Network has stated:

“At present, out of 210 farms, SEPA has 72 submitted sea bed survey results, mostly from 2023, that have not been assessed, and some of those farms have been restocked. SEPA does not even have the capacity to assess those results, so providing it with more information is not really helping. It is not able to do its job properly.”—[Official Report, Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, 5 June 2024; c 16.]

How would you respond to that?

Thank you.

I think that you are agreeing that the pace is slow. How slow is it? On average, how long does it take to do an assessment?

Have you done comparisons with other countries to see how they tackle the issue?

I am just interested in seeing where you are in relation to your comparators.

Yet, there is a concern about fragmentation. Is that driven by the issue of multiple funding sources?

How can that be fixed?

Thank you, convener. I am delighted to be on the committee. I have no relevant interests to declare.