- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology Marine Scotland has required applicants for seal licences for (a) grey and (b) common seals under section 110(1)(f) or (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 to use to establish how many seals they need to shoot in 2011.
Answer
Marine Scotland recommended that this assessment should be realistic and, wherever possible, based on previous experience.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many seal licences for (a) common and (b) grey seals under section 110(1)(f) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 were (i) applied for and (ii) granted to newly established fish farms on the basis of information regarding the negative effects on the health and welfare of farmed fish not at the facility applying but at equivalent facilities in the same vicinity or of a similar type.
Answer
Marine Scotland grants licences in response to applications received rather than to individual fish farms. Therefore information received relates to applications which may or may not include individual newly established fish farms.
In addition the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 does not require Scottish ministers to have regard to any information about damage caused by seals in relation to licences granted under section 110(1)(f).
Marine Scotland nevertheless considers any available information about negative effects on the health and welfare of farmed fish.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fish farms seeking licences to kill (a) grey and (b) common seals under section 110(1)(f) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 provided evidence of the cost or potential cost to the fish farm of the negative effects of seals on the health and welfare of farmed fish and what weight was given to this evidence in determining whether to grant a licence.
Answer
Marine Scotland grants licences in response to applications received rather than to individual fish farms.
The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 does not require Scottish ministers to have regard to any information about damage caused by seals or non-lethal measure in relation to licences granted under section 110(1)(f).
Marine Scotland nevertheless considers any available information about the cost or potential cost to the applicant of any negative effects on the health and welfare or farmed fish.
Marine Scotland considers each application on a case by case basis against a range of factors and allocates appropriate weight to each.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many inspections of fish farms were undertaken by Marine Scotland to verify the use of non-lethal measures to deter grey and common seals before granting seal licences to fish farms under section 110(1)(f) or (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.
Answer
The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 does not require Scottish ministers to have regard to any information about non-lethal measures in relation to licences granted under section 110(1)(f).
In respect of the single application in relation to fish farms under section 110(1)(g), Marine Scotland undertook no inspections specifically for this purpose.
Marine Scotland did however, take account of available information on non-lethal measures before granting a licence in consideration of all licences under sections 110(1)(f) and 110(1)(g).
This included the fact that almost all fish farms seeking a seal licence already employ at least one and many a number of non-lethal measures. The non-lethal measure that is generally accepted to be most effective against seals is tensioned nets and almost all fish farms have such nets installed. In addition to this, almost half of fish farms use acoustic deterrents, a third seal blinds and a fifth anti-predator nets. There are a range of views on the effectiveness of these other measures but none have entirely eliminated the risk of seal predation.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many seal licences for killing (a) grey and (b) common seals under section 110(1)(f) and (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 have been granted to (i) individuals, (ii) seal management groups and (iii) other groups or organisations.
Answer
The total of 65 seal licences issued on 31 January 2011 consisted of four issued to seal management groups and 61 issued to other groups or organisations. No seal licences were issued to individuals.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) common and (b) grey seals each (i) fish farm, (ii) river fishery board, (iii) marine coastal fishery, (iv) netsman and (v) other applicant for a seal licence under section 110(1)(f) or (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 (A) have requested to shoot and (B) will be permitted to shoot, broken down by seal management area.
Answer
Marine Scotland grants seal licences in response to applications received rather than to any individual fish farms or fisheries. Therefore all information held on licences is on the basis of applications, including numbers of seals applicants have requested to shoot and any maximum numbers that they will be permitted to shoot.
This information is set out in Table 2 of the frequently asked questions paper at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/marine/licensing/seallicensing.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether applications for seal licences for (a) grey and (b) common seals have been received by Marine Scotland for purposes other than those described in section 110(1)(f) and (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and, if so, for what purposes, broken down by seal management area.
Answer
Marine Scotland received one application for a seal licence to take grey and common seals under section 110 (1) (a) for scientific research or educational purposes across all of Scotland. It did not seek to kill any seals.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will verify that (a) grey and (b) common seals killed under seal licences under section 110(f) or (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 were shot only as a last resort in accordance with the Scottish Seal Management Code of Practice.
Answer
Marine Scotland will review the quarterly reports submitted by licensees and consider any other available evidence.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether applications for seal licences for (a) grey and (b) commons seals have been made to Marine Scotland under section 110(1)(f) and (g) of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and, if so, whether any licences have been granted to the same applicant under both categories.
Answer
One applicant submitted applications for grey and common seals under both sections 110 (1)(f) and 110 (1)(g). A licence was granted to this applicant under each category with appropriate consideration of possible duplication and potential impact on local seal populations.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2011
-
Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available for farm diversification for equine activities.
Answer
There are a number of options under the Rural Priorities element of the Scotland Rural Development Programme, including diversification outwith agriculture and development/creation of micro-enterprises, aimed at supporting diversification to improve the viability of existing agricultural businesses. This may include various leisure, recreation and sporting activities, including equine activities. More details can be found on the Rural Priorities website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities.
