Chamber and committees

You talked about the islands hub for net zero project. The projects came from the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland. Again, I emphasise the point that the minister made earlier about the framework being flexible and open. If more information comes through the consultation, we would look at that. The draft NPF4 is what has come out of the engagement that has taken place so far in relation to where some of these developments would be emanating from.

I will make a point about hydrogen. We are undertaking a review of all the regulations and legislation on the safe production, storage and transportation of hydrogen to ensure that we have the correct framework in place. That work is on-going.

I am sorry, but are you asking about an interim report on ARIOB?

That is what I was going to add, because I believe that NatureScot has been developing guidance on that specific policy. Cara may have more detail.

Fin-fish and shellfish farming are not completely exempt from the policy. Policy 3 has five points, and fin-fish and shellfish farming are exempt from the last two, not the first three. It is critical to outline that.

Fin-fish and shellfish farming are a bit of a funny one, because they are the only part of marine development that is covered by the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and by terrestrial planning processes. In relation to marine biodiversity, it is important that we look at marine ecosystems as a whole and that that is considered through the national marine plan as well as the forthcoming biodiversity strategy. I assure you and other members that such farming is by no means exempt. Work on the issue will be on-going through other pieces of work that we are carrying out.

We have taken action to address that. We recently published our response to the salmon interactions working group. One of the outcomes of that was that we identified the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency as the lead regulator for sea lice interactions. That marks a transition away from local authorities managing interactions through environment management plans. SEPA will work closely with local authorities to ensure that there is a smooth transition there. It is also consulting at the moment on a risk-based framework for managing interactions between sea lice from marine fish farm developments and wild salmon. Again, I can reassure you that these are issues that we are working on to address and there is a lot of work going on in this space at the moment.

I will happily address that point that was raised in relation to the blue economy action plan, because we will be setting out our vision for the blue economy and, after that, our action plan. Essentially, that will provide a frame and an ambition for Scotland’s marine management policies, our strategies and plans. The national marine plan, regional marine planning and future fisheries management strategy will be key delivery mechanisms for the blue economy because that approach is about looking at our marine industries holistically. It will allow us to achieve our ambition for the sustainable stewardship of Scotland’s blue resources, which is consistent with the international commitments that we have for our marine environment. That is how these plans and strategies will come together under the blue economy vision.

On planning policies for coastal infrastructure, the minister will come in on that.

You mentioned the previous round of the EMFF. The regulations will mean that we can better align with the new European maritime, fisheries and aquaculture fund. The regulations broaden the scope of what we can fund compared with what we could fund previously. For example, we could now look to fund activities in marine biodiversity, ecosystems and coastal communities. There is a broader range of what we can look to fund through the regulations.

On the level of funding that we receive, we are allocated £14 million a year. That has been very frustrating and disappointing for us, because we believe that our allocation should be about £62 million, so there is a significant shortfall, but we know that our—

The criteria for what we would look to set up in a new fund have not been established yet, but that is something that we would be able to fund through the regulations.

No.