Chamber and committees

The new vessels have not been designed to berth at the current facilities at Port Ellen or Port Askaig.

In his announcement of 15 October 2014, the then Minister for Transport and Veterans, Keith Brown MSP, stated that the new ferries would be designed to provide a fully flexible year-round service for Arran and the Uig Triangle (Uig to Tarbert to Lochmaddy).

The majority of the information that was requested is published annually by National Records of Scotland in its vital events reference tables.

The infant death rates for Scotland for 1979, 1999 and 2014, and the annual average for the five years 1951-55 (which indicates the approximate level in 1953) are as follows:

Table 4.2: Stillbirth¹, perinatal, neonatal, postneonatal and infant death rates, Scotland, 1946 to 2014 (both sexes)

Notes:

1. The Still-Birth (Definition) Act 1992 re-defined stillbirths, from 1 October 1992, to include losses between 24 and 27 weeks gestation. This table is based on all stillbirths registered during the year. The rates in brackets are based on stillbirths with a gestation period of 28 weeks and over.

2. Includes any cases for which the sex was not known.

Infant death rates for Scotland, and for each of the countries in the European Union, and for four other European countries are as follows:

Table 1.6: International populations and vital statistics rates, selected countries, latest available figures

Notes:

1. The definition of a stillbirth varies from country to country and over time. For the UK position refer to vital events reference tables Notes and Definitions.

2. Rate per 1,000 live and stillbirths.

3. Rate per 1,000 live births

4. Rate per 1,000 live births.

5. Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013. For simplicity, Croatia has been counted under ‘European Union’ in this table regardless of when the event was registered. Therefore, the figures for ‘European Union’ will include people from Croatia who were involved in events that were registered between January and June 2013.

Sources: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics

The following table shows the number of low birthweight live babies (<2500g), all live births and low birthweight live babies (<2500g) expressed as a percentage of all live births for the financial years ending 31 March 1999, 2007 and 2013, the latest information published by ISD. Information for 2014 is not yet available.

Source: SMR02, ISD Scotland

Marine Scotland science assesses velvet crab stocks using official landings data, size composition data collected as part of its market sampling programme and other biological parameters. Using these data it is possible to estimate stock status in terms of fishing mortality relative to a proxy for Fmsy – Fmsy being the fishing mortality which maximises the average long-term yield from a stock under prevailing environmental conditions. When a stock is fished above Fmsy, it is often advised that measures be introduced to reduce fishing mortality to achieve a higher average yield and biomass in the long term. Marine Scotland science has sufficient data to provide assessments in six of the 12 assessment areas (Table 1 below). These six areas account for around 90% of total Scottish landings of velvet crabs. Stock assessments are conducted for males and females separately. Stock status may differ between sexes and assessment areas. For the Shetland assessment area the fishery is currently fished below Fmsy for both males and females. In the Hebrides and South Minch one of the sexes is assessed as being fished above Fmsy. For the remaining three assessment areas both species are assessed as being fished above Fmsy.

Table 1 – Tonnage of velvet crabs landed into Scotland 2010 – 2014. Landings data for 2014 are provisional. It is worth of note that from May 2015 a larger minimum landings size for velvet crabs has been introduced for the Outer Hebrides. A consultation has also recently closed on introducing an increased minimum landing size for the Orkney Isles. Increasing the minimum landing size of shellfish should allow animals more time to breed before becoming legally harvestable.

Deliberate gear conflict is a common law offence, better understood as vandalism or theft, and is therefore a matter for Police Scotland to investigate. Marine Scotland compliance has no enforcement remit where fishing gear has been damaged or towed away. It therefore follows that any subsequent legal action leading to prosecutions or convictions are matters for the crown office and procurator fiscal service (COPFS) and Scottish court service (SCS) respectively. The following table details the instances of alleged gear conflict reported to Marine Scotland compliance in each of the calendar years:

Although the overwhelming majority of fishermen, whether static or mobile, manage to co-operate well on a daily basis sharing fishing areas when targeting the same species without conflict. However, the Scottish Government has recognised that where gear conflict occurs it can have a significant effect on individual fishermen. We sought views on gear conflict for a new policy direction and the report of that consultation will be available later this year.

The inshore fisheries groups (IFGs) are continuing to consider local inshore fisheries management issues while also engaging with national bodies and initiatives including inshore fisheries management and conservation group (IFMAC). The process of establishing Scottish marine region marine planning partnerships has seen the Clyde region as one of the first two formal areas to be designated. The south west inshore fisheries group (SWIFG) with a region including the Clyde and Argyll areas has engaged with this process through the chair. The Clyde 2020 initiative is also being supported through attendance at meetings. In terms of practical implementation the SWIFG has established Mull, Ayrshire and Solway sub groups which have undertaken trials such as the use of escape panels in creels, tail notching of lobster and participating in fisheries data gathering. The IFG process is currently the subject of an independent review to determine how inshore fishery management initiatives involving local fishermen and communities can be best represented by the IFGs within the wider marine planning framework created by the Scottish National Marine Plan. The findings were discussed with industry at the IFMAC meeting on 18 August 2015.

The Scottish Government works closely with creel fishermen, fishing associations and inshore fisheries groups to develop local solutions for effective management. A national consultation on a range of creel management and control measures was held in 2012 with the respondents not in favour of national creel limits but were open to considering limits in local areas as part of other measures. A copy of the outcome report is available http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/10/1091.

However, in response to concerns about increased effort in the creel sector requests for controls were raised at inshore fisheries management and conservation group (IFMAC) on 11 March 2015 a small working group was established to explore potential local management options. The Scottish Government recently held a consultation on measures to tackle gear conflict in inshore waters, the outcome report will be issued at the end of August, early September. The proposals can be accessed here http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/11/6562.

The Scottish Government announced 11 June 2015 management measures to be applied to the 16 sites in the first tranche of Scotland’s network of Marine Protected Areas. The intention is to create a coherent network of protected sites that will both protect vulnerable species and habitats and ensure there is space for fishing to continue – including trawling and dredging. For those designated sites that exclude mobile activity Marine Scotland will undertake careful on-going monitoring to establish if there is any increase in static activity and if there is a potential negative impact shellfish stocks.

The aquaculture industry supports employment and the economic wellbeing of many fragile rural communities across Scotland. The Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2014 shows that there has been a decrease in queen scallop production (45%) but an increase in scallop production (20%) from registered scallop farming sites during 2014. Both these sectors continue to target small niche markets. The ministerial group for sustainable aquaculture (MGSA) has been established to support Scotland’s aquaculture industry to achieve sustainable growth targets, with due regard to the marine environment, by 2020. The shellfish working group is one of seven working groups under MGSA. The group has a published programme of work including the development of an industry lead plan to identify potential future growth and highlight constraints, opportunities and requirements http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Fish-Shellfish/MGSA/Shellfishwg.

We are not aware of any direct Scottish Government investment in technology to facilitate the collection of scallops by remote operated vehicles. However, Seafish the body set up by the fisheries act 1981 to improve efficacy and raise standards across the seafood industry, has previously researched the potential of an autonomous scallop harvesting platform. A copy of the report can be found here: http://www.seafish.org/media/Publications/10413_Shellfishharvestingplatform.pdf

With regards to new methods of fishing for scallops, the Scottish Government has supported initiatives to encourage the development of dredge design such as a competition run in 2009 to develop a new form of scallop dredge. Seafish has researched scallop gear for both king and queen scallops which can be found on their website: http://www.seafish.org/.

Appointments of JPs take into account the level of JP court business in the sheriffdom, including business to which signing functions relate. In relation to notaries public, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-26180 on 15 July 2015.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.