Chamber and committees

Okay. We will move on to the topic of offences and penalties.

I have a simple question for Elspeth Macdonald and Ian Gatt. Has the Government been clear on how REM will benefit the likes of seafood supply chains?

There have been times in the past when data has been leaked. A few years ago, data was used to undermine the fishing industry. That put a huge dent in the confidence of the fishing industry in the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland at that time. Will the SSI give you confidence that data will not be shared inappropriately or in a way that the fishing industry is not comfortable with?

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much.

That brings us to the end of the session. We have run over time quite a bit, but I think that that additional time has allowed us to explore some of the issues a little bit more. Thank you very much for your time this morning.

We move to Joe Whitelegg, from the Isle of Man—welcome, Joe. I can look across the sea and see the Isle of Man on most mornings, because the sun always shines on Dumfries and Galloway. I feel like you are a very close neighbour to me, down in Kirkcudbright.

What is your perspective on how REM is working in the Isle of Man?

Perhaps you can clarify something, as I may have misunderstood. Is it your understanding that Manx vessels will require REM to fish in Scottish waters?

Okay—that is grand.

We are now joined by Ian Gatt, who is also out of the country, although slightly further away than the Isle of Man. Welcome, Ian.

Elspeth Macdonald, could you touch on the scallop boats?

Okay. I have a supplementary question. Some of the suggested mitigating solutions include vessels being required to maintain a minimum speed, which would reflect the fact that they are not fishing, and their being required to stay a certain distance from closed fishing areas. Do we need such measures in the SSI in order for it to be fit for purpose to deal with the issue of downtime?