Scottish Labour MSP Donald MacKinnon has urged the SNP government to bring forward its second National Marine Plan, warning that piecemeal decisions about Scotland’s seas are creating uncertainty for fishing communities.
Speaking in a Holyrood debate on Wednesday, the Na h-Eileanan an Iar MSP said fishing grounds face growing competition from aquaculture, offshore renewables and conservation measures. He called for a single strategy that would give fishers and other users of the sea greater clarity.
MacKinnon said protecting the seabed and important marine habitats was necessary, but warned that restrictions on particular fishing grounds could threaten the viability of boats and the onshore processors that depend on their catch.
“The current problem is the piecemeal approach to decision making,” he told MSPs. He said the existing marine plan was a decade old and that an updated strategy was “badly needed”.
MacKinnon’s amendment called for fishers, processors and coastal communities to have a central voice in decisions affecting the industry. MSPs rejected it by 71 votes to 32, with 13 abstentions.
SNP fisheries minister Jim Fairlie said he had heard fishers’ concerns about competition for marine space and wanted decisions grounded in evidence, with the industry engaged early. He defended the government’s support for the sector and criticised the UK government’s allocation of £28 million from its £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund to Scotland.
MacKinnon acknowledged concerns about that allocation. He said he had written to UK minister Angela Eagle and would raise the issue with her, while arguing that the Scottish government must also provide a clearer plan for managing its own waters.
The Scottish government is developing National Marine Plan 2, which is intended to replace the existing plan and address competing demands for marine space. MacKinnon’s challenge is for ministers to complete it urgently and show coastal communities how decisions affecting their livelihoods will be made.
