- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory bodies were involved in the formulation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
Informal meetings about the proposed approach to developing the Framework were held with Orkney and Highland councils, The Crown Estate and Scottish Natural Heritage. The Scottish Government''s Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group discussed the proposed approach in one of their meetings. There were two open-invitation stakeholder events in Thurso and Kirkwall for other interested parties. Information was also made public on the internet on the process of developing the framework.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32071 by Richard Lochhead on 15 March 2010 indicating that the Marine Strategic Studies Forum met only once, whether it considers that stakeholders have been sufficiently involved in the creation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
Yes. Members of the Marine Strategic Studies Forum were given opportunity to advise on the proposed approach to the Framework via email in August 2009. There have been other opportunities for stakeholders to provide input into the proposed approach to the framework, at the two stakeholder events held in Thurso and Orkney, and the current consultation.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan will work with regional plans emerging from Scottish marine regions.
Answer
The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters marine spatial plan was started to provide momentum in advance of the implementation of the new statutory marine planning system. The main focus has been assembling information which will be necessary for planning this sensitive area, regardless of the final agreed boundaries for planning. The marine spatial plan may be incorporated into future statutory marine plans but this will depend on decisions in Scottish marine regions and other statutory marine planning processes.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the statutory status will be of the completed marine spatial plan for the Pentland Firth.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-33523 on 17 May 2010. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what input the (a) Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group and (b) Marine Strategic Studies Forum provided in the formulation of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
The Marine Energy Spatial Planning Group discussed the proposed approach to developing the framework at its meetings in March and August 2009.
Members of the Marine Strategic Studies Forum were given the opportunity to comment on the proposed approach to developing the framework via email in August 2009.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework will guide decision making for development in the Pentland Firth.
Answer
The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework sets out the process by which a non-statutory pilot marine spatial plan will be developed.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the same approach to stakeholder engagement undertaken in the development of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework will be followed in the creation of regional plans under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.
Answer
The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 sets out the procedure that any plan maker must follow to engage stakeholders in the development of plans. We are developing the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters marine spatial plan as a non statutory pilot but intend to engage stakeholders using the procedure set out in the act.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the statutory status is of the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan Framework.
Answer
The framework sets out a process for developing a plan for Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters in a staged approach. The framework is not a statutory document.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth last met representatives of Orkney Islands Council.
Answer
Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of councils, including Orkney Islands Council.
I had planned to meet representatives of the council on Monday but a delay to the flight prevented this from happening. I will make further arrangements to hold this meeting.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with fisheries stakeholders on the implications of any early closure of white fish and nephrops fisheries due to 2010 quotas running out before the end of the year and what the outcome was.
Answer
Scottish Fish Producer Organisations are responsible for managing the uptake of quotas allocated to them in a way that best suits their members. The Scottish Government monitors their performance.
The Scottish Government has drawn the attention of the producer organisations and other fisheries stakeholders to the fact that the continuation of fishing activity at its current rate could lead to the early closure of whitefish and nephrops fisheries. On a number of occasions in recent weeks it has discussed with representatives of the fishing industry how fishing opportunities might best be managed in the context of the opportunities available and the uptake to date in terms of both landings and fishing effort.
The following table notes uptake of available quota on 28 April 2010:
| | % Uptake |
| Stock | North Sea | West of Scotland |
| Haddock* | 34 | 53 |
| Whiting | 49 | 95 |
| Cod* | 31 | 58 |
| Saithe | 56 | 53 |
| Hake | 51 | 30 |
| Monkfish | 19 | 58 |
| Nephrops | 27 | 18 |
Note: *For West of Scotland Haddock and Cod, figures quoted are for ICES Area Via.
Consultations with the fishing industry have involved stakeholders from all parts of the country and from each of the industry sectors. They have focussed on a number of points, including ways in which available fishing opportunities can be increased; methods by which the uptake of opportunities can be better rationed over the course of the year, and, ways in which greater flexibility can be introduced into licensing and other regulatory arrangements to provide fishing businesses with greater scope to adapt and grow.
The government is committed to working closely with the catching sector to help ensure a full year fishery, and will manage the non-sector vessels for which it has direct responsibility to achieve that outcome. It is for producer organisations to assess the consequences for the marketing of their produce of any failure to ensure continuity of supply.
