Jamie McGrigor, Highlands & Islands MSP and Scottish Conservative Fisheries Spokesman, yesterday questioned Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, and Linda Rosborough, the Director of Marine Scotland, over proposed cuts in Marine Scotland’s budget.
Speaking at yesterday’s meeting of Holyrood's Rural Affairs, Environment & Climate Change Committee, Jamie raised concerns about the fact that the organisation’s budget is falling.
Marine Scotland’s funding is set to decline from £49 million in 2013-14 to £47.9 million in 2015-16. This will coincide with the body having extra responsibilities, including those at ports in relation to extra landings and unwanted species - a result of Common Fisheries Policy reforms.
The Cabinet Secretary conceded that "the landing obligation for fish caught outwith quota, which is part of the discard bans, will be challenging to monitor and police, and a lot of thinking is going into how to do that on the ground”, while Linda Rosborough provided reassurance that additional European fisheries grants would help Marine Scotland manage its additional workload, although this funding would not be available until later in 2014.
Speaking afterwards, Jamie, who previously raised concerns that Marine Scotland was behind the rest of the UK in terms of making preparations for the new landing policies at ports, said:
“I look forward to Scotland receiving its share of the new European maritime and fisheries funds to ensure that Marine Scotland is fully ready to support Scottish fishermen meet new Common Fisheries Policy requirements.
“It is disappointing that the EU has not been able to guarantee this funding will be in place from 1st January next year, and Ministers will need to monitor this situation carefully”.