Chamber and committees

Sorry to interrupt, cabinet secretary. I am not so good when it comes to figures and definitions of charge points. Will somebody explain what charge point is being referred to? Is it not just a simple one? Sorry, Matthew, but you nodded when Bob Doris gave that figure. It would help me to understand that.

Ah.

I believe that Mark Ruskell had a question.

Thank you. The committee will report on the outcome of our consideration of the instrument in due course. I invite committee members to delegate authority to me as convener to approve the draft report for publication. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

Ah, finally. I thought that I would have to ask all my questions when Tavish Scott was out of the room, convener. I am glad that he is back because he is going to get some of them.

Ben Hadfield, I would like to take you back mentally to 2 May 2018—I cannot take you back physically. I have no doubt that you will have looked back on that date, because you were in a meeting of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee with Scott Landsburgh, talking about salmon farming. I think that Scott said that it was a “difficult and challenging” environment but that it was getting better. To paraphrase your words, Ben, I think that you said that there was a “perfect storm” of mortality, increased temperature and resistance to medication but that mortality would decrease at sea and that you would get it to below 5 per cent. Was that wishful thinking? If it was not wishful thinking, for how long are we going to be sitting at between 20 and 25 per cent mortality at sea?

That is helpful. So, are you are saying that, in 10 years, we should be down to a mortality rate of about 15 per cent? Do not get me wrong, I know that no one wants to lose a fish—I am a farmer. I do not want to lose a calf or any animal, and I understand the care that goes into doing those things, because it also affects your bottom line.

In my mind, the bit that we do not know about is whether, when the wild smolts travel out to sea and are in the coastal range before they travel beyond that, they would be clear of sea lice.

It was not taped—it was recorded by hand.

Ben, I would suggest that Mowi will be doing budgets for the next 10 years, if it is like any other business, and I am trying to work out how long you are budgeting to have a mortality rate of 20 to 25 per cent at sea. I accept that the industry has made changes, and I was delighted to go to the Bakkafrost facility—I will put that on the record—to see the wonderful hatchery that it is developing at Kishorn. I was grateful for that visit and the knowledge that it gave me. I am trying. Try to answer my question, please, Ben.

My next question is a general one about sea lice. I tend to agree with you; I do not think that sea lice are as much of a problem as they were, and I acknowledge that the industry has taken huge efforts to address that. However, people feel that there is a problem with you putting your smolts to sea when they are at their most vulnerable—when they are young and their skin is changing—after your having vaccinated them and treated them in preparation for going to sea, The problem is that people who represent wild fish interests might feel that they do not know whether the wild smolts that go past fish farms are affected by sea lice, because no one knows what happens to them—they disappear into the wild blue yonder. Do you think that it would be a good thing for the industry to work with organisations that represent those interests to try to iron out that lack of knowledge?