Question reference: S4W-24228
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 29 January 2015
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 February 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a means of monitoring the fishing activity of vessels engaged in commercial fishery no matter their length.
Answer
Vessels over 12 metres in length are required by EU Regulation to report their position to their Flag State every two hours, via a Vessel Monitoring System.
Marine Scotland has commissioned a trial of an Automatic Identification System fishing vessel monitoring system on 300 inshore vessels of less than 12 metres in length. The intention is that the trial, which benefits from European Fisheries Fund support, will establish whether such a system would be a suitable fisheries management tool in some circumstances in Scottish waters.
The outputs of the trial together with the conclusions from the recent consultation exercise on the management of marine protected areas will inform Marine Scotland’s consideration of options to help manage fishing activity around the country.