Chamber and committees

I will start off on that, and Nuala Gormley may want to come in after. Mackerel is one example; of course, other states have a strong interest in that as well. It is not unusual for work to be undertaken or led on by other states. You can pick on that example, but there are other examples, such as those that Nuala just talked about—we lead on 19 other stock assessment groups that are important for Scotland. There is also important collaborative work on monkfish to highlight. The work that we did in Scotland led to an increase in the total allowable catch for that species, which is so valuable for our industry. Nuala, do you want to add anything further?

I believe that those figures were provided to the committee in our letter. Nuala, do you have them?

It is important to address that point. You are saying that fisheries are being left in a parlous state and you are judging that purely on the basis of the number of publications, but I do not think that it is fair to make that assessment or to equate those two things. Nuala Gormley outlined our involvement in ICES for the stocks that are important for us in Scotland, and both of us have touched on the importance of Scottish science feeding into that work. A tangible outcome to our work on monkfish was an increase in the TAC for that species.

It comes back to the point I made previously, which is that we are not comparing like-for-like when we look at external work or work that has been published—I am sure that Nuala will correct me if I am wrong. CEFAS operates in a different way to us, as do marine directorates in other countries. Those bodies may depend more on an external element or publishing work externally. It is important that we are making comparisons that are fair. I do not think that that is necessarily the situation with what you have just set out. Nuala, do you want to add anything more to that?

The work that will be taken forward for the implementation plan for the science and innovation strategy will be important. It is not about science as part of the marine directorate in isolation. I have previously mentioned the importance of collaboration and getting that right. The implementation of the strategy will assist us in that.

I think that the science budget has remained consistent over the past few years.

As I set out earlier, ultimately, we want to provide the best available working facilities for the people there. When the damage was done to the buildings, a number of short-term solutions were put in place. I realise that that was not an ideal approach, but that is where the work that is being taken forward by the project board to identify longer-term solutions will be really important.

However, I am not too clear about the timescales for that work. I do not know whether officials have any further information on that.

There is quite a lot to unpick in that.

I will try to respond to as much as possible. If I forget a point, please pick me up on it.

You mentioned remote electronic monitoring. I appeared in front of the committee not long ago to introduce the regulations on that. REM is being rolled out across particular sections of our fleet, not across the whole fleet. It will be used for pelagic vessels as well as scallop dredge vessels. The pelagic measures do not come into force until 2026, to give the industry time to adjust and prepare for them. However, when we introduce REM on Scottish vessels, it will also apply to vessels fishing in Scottish waters.

Yes. That was really important to have. With the roll-out of REM, we want to ensure that we are not being seen as implementing it only on Scottish or UK vessels. It is important that it applies across the piece. I want to be clear on that.

You touched on our vessels and the fleet. You are absolutely right that we have three marine protection vessels. We also have two marine research vessels, two aeroplanes and 18 fisheries offices and, I believe, two rigid inflatable boats—RIBs. We have quite a large fleet and an expense comes with that.

You asked about the budget. Compliance had its own line in the budget until last year. This year, it falls under the operational delivery line of the budget, against which we have £29.3 million available for the year.

Of course, some of the costs in relation to the vessels have escalated in the past few years, particularly the cost of fuel. Staff costs, general maintenance costs and running costs have also risen, even compared with 2021-22. The overall operational costs of the vessels have gone up by about £2.5 million. The rise in fuel costs, particularly since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, has led to huge increases in the overall fuel bill. There was an increase of £1.5 million over one financial year, I think, and the fuel costs are still 30 per cent higher than they were prior to the invasion of Ukraine.

You talked about the age of the vessels.

There is a scale. I would be happy to provide the committee with that information.