Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-34400

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to promote the Eat More Fish campaign in each of the next six months.

Question reference: S3W-34396

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is evidence of an increased public knowledge of the fishing supply chain as a result of the Eat More Fish campaign.

Question reference: S3W-34397

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met stakeholders to discuss the effectiveness of its Eat More Fish campaign.

Question reference: S3W-34395

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Scottish fishing sector has benefited from the Eat More Fish campaign and, if so, based on what evidence.

Question reference: S3W-34393

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the Eat More Fish campaign to have been successful to date and, if so, on the basis of what criteria.

The Eat More Fish Campaign was launched in May 2009 to increase awareness of the health and environmental benefits of eating at least the recommended two portions of fish a week.

Seafood Scotland, the cross industry body representing stakeholders from across the fishing and fish processing industry has been responsible for running the campaign on the industry''s behalf and has achieved the following:

Raised consumer awareness of the health and environmental benefits of eating fish through work with schools, retailers, the food service sector and fishmongers.

Run a Scotland wide competition to find the country''s best young seafood chef, over 42 chefs entered.

Launched an award winning web portal giving consumers a single source of advice on buying and eating Scottish fish, including recipe ideas.

Held seafood promotions at public events, including the Taste Festival in Edinburgh.

According to Seafish, the campaign helped to generate a significant increase in retail sales of seafood in Scotland - by £8.6 million in value and 6 per cent in volume between May and October 2009.

The Eat More Fish Campaign was extended earlier this year and will continue until March 2011. A full evaluation of the campaign will be carried out then.

Question reference: S3W-34389

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of shellfish caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels were landed in Scotland in each of the last five years and how many tonnes were destined for markets in (i) Scotland, (ii) Europe excluding Scotland and (iii) North America in each case.

The available information regarding shellfish tonnage caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels and landed into Scotland is given in the following table.

Year	Scottish	Other UK	Other EU
2005	49,285	4,878	526
2006	52,579	4,721	689
2007	59,902	5,876	641
2008	58,329	5,215	757
2009	58,369	4,789	1,016

Comprehensive information on intended markets is not held by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-34388

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of whitefish caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels were landed in Scotland in each of the last five years and how many tonnes were destined for markets in (i) Scotland, (ii) Europe excluding Scotland and (iii) North America in each case.

The available information regarding whitefish tonnage caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels and landed into Scotland is given in the following table.

Tonnage of Whitefish Landed into Scotland.

Year	Scottish	Other UK	Other EU
2005	87,085	7,499	17,733
2006	82,047	5,919	18,034
2007	75,859	4,121	18,695
2008	80,626	3,508	19,486
2009	88,339	4,230	19,403

Comprehensive information on intended markets is not held by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-34387

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of pelagic fish caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels were landed in Scotland in each of the last five years and how many tonnes were destined for markets in (i) Scotland, (ii) Europe excluding Scotland and (iii) North America in each case.

The available information regarding Pelagic tonnage caught by (a) Scottish, (b) other UK and (c) other EU vessels and landed into Scotland is given in the following table.

Tonnage of Pelagic fish landed into Scotland.

Year	Scottish	Other UK	Other EU
2005	216,167	1,295	26,691
2006	140,966	3,022	35,682
2007	156,634	8,581	29,844
2008	130,797	4,616	18,845
2009	121,027	606	19,131

Comprehensive information on intended markets is not held by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-34391

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects the amount of (a) pelagic fish, (b) whitefish and (c) shellfish landed by (i) Scottish, (ii) other UK and (iii) other EU vessels to increase in each of the next three years and, if so, by what amount and based on what evidence.

Limits on the amount of commercial fish stocks landed by European vessels are based on scientific advice on stock condition provided in the preceding year. Stock condition reflects both management actions and natural fluctuations. The quota allocation to UK vessels is determined through the principle of Relative Stability, and the Scottish share is generally based on the Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) units associated with the licences of vessels as at 1 January of the relevant year.

We have yet to receive the scientific advice for most fish stocks which will provide the basis for limits for 2011. This will be published at the end of June for whitefish and herring and at the beginning of October for other pelagic species. We cannot currently predict what stock conditions, and therefore amounts landed, will be in 2012 and 2013. However, we are now trialling a scheme to reduce discards and increase the amount of cod landed by converting a percentage of discarded fish into quota. If successful, we hope to expand this scheme to other species in the coming years.

Marine Scotland produces a statistical analysis of catches and landings and provides information on landings trends via its website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/09/11100225/0.

These trends indicate high variability for pelagic landings, a decline in demersal landings and a steady increase in shellfish landings.

Question reference: S3W-34394

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 June 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken research to establish what effect the Eat More Fish campaign has had on Scottish (a) nutritional and (b) market habits and, if so, what the results were.

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