Chamber and committees

My question comes down to whether the aquaculture industry is making fast enough progress. Is it comparable with agriculture? We talk about all the medicines that are used in aquaculture and it is one of the big issues. Are they comparable to the medicines that we use in other types of food production? Antibiotics are very important in the poultry industry, for example. Are we seeing the same progress in reducing the amount of medicine in aquaculture through the use of better animal husbandry? Are we making enough progress? Is progress being made at the same pace as in the agriculture and other food production sectors?

That leads me nicely to my last question. What do you believe are the main challenges for the industry with regard to environmental impact?

Thank you, Mr Mountain. I certainly agree with you on that point.

I thank Rachel Mulrenan, Sarah Evans, Sean Black and John Aitchison very much for their evidence, which has been most helpful.

I will briefly suspend the meeting until 10 to 11, to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

Thank you. I call Beatrice Wishart.

Before you come in, I will bring in Annette Boerlage, who indicated that she would like to come in some time ago.

Yes, certainly.

I am talking about regulation and enforcement generally. Do you believe that SEPA operates a robust enforcement system?

Can I bring in Rachael? I beg your pardon—we have another Rachel with us today. Rachael Hamilton wants to come in on the back of this. Do you want to ask your questions now?

Elena Whitham will ask the next two questions.

I am sorry, but I am going to interrupt you. Your points are valid, but we need to not go into too much detail. We need to concentrate on, for example, the recommendations that have been made.

We will move on to a question from Rachael Hamilton.