Chamber and committees

I think that the timeframe has changed because the Bute house agreement suggests that the legislation should be delivered by the end of the current parliamentary session.

On the relationship between the Isle of Man fisheries and the Scottish fisheries, there is a long tradition of Scottish boats fishing in Manx waters and vice versa. However, that relationship has not always been harmonious; I know that we had an uncomfortable situation four or five years ago when Scottish boats had to land scallops in Douglas, which caused some tensions. Can you update us on the current working between the Scottish Government or the marine directorate and the Isle of Man fisheries?

I have a final question before I bring in Rhoda Grant. Scottish boats fish in Isle of Man waters and in French waters, too. What would happen if the Isle of Man decided to diverge from the technology that the Scottish Government had specified and if Europe had a different REM specification? Could you see a situation in which scallop boats in Scotland had three, four or multiple sets of technology in order to deliver data for different reasons to different fisheries control authorities?

Finally, I seek a yes or no response to this question, although I do not think that I can ask Joe Whitelegg this. I note that the lead-in times for introducing REM have been accelerated by the Bute house agreement, which could leave fishing boats unable to find people to repair their equipment as quickly as they might, meaning that the boats could not go to sea. Should the Scottish Government compensate fishers in the event of that happening?

The federation represents some scallop fishers. Currently, some of them will voluntarily have REM on their vessels. What was the reason for their voluntarily doing that? Have they seen any benefits, or what issues have they seen?

I am aware that Rachael Hamilton and I interrupted Emma Harper’s question, so I ask Joe Whitelegg whether the Isle of Man marine compliance has any issues with the technical specification. Have you any reason to believe that the technical spec could give rise to issues?

Ian Gatt, would you like to come in on the same point?

Does the instrument on which we will have to make a decision allow for that pragmatism?

We will move to questions on sustainability and science, which might tease that out a little bit more. Before we do so, Joe Whitelegg wants to come in.

We will move on to that. It is difficult not to stray into other topics, but we will stick to this one just now. Ariane Burgess has a supplementary question about requests for REM data.