1. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to protect the marine environment. (S5O-00489)

The Scottish Government has made considerable progress in its work to protect the marine environment. The national marine plan was adopted in March 2015 and provides a framework for consistent decision making that takes account of the marine environment. Work is now progressing to implement marine planning at regional scale. Marine protected areas provide additional protection to important locations in our seas, and the network now covers around 20 per cent of our marine area. Work to complete the network and deliver necessary and appropriate management measures will continue over the next couple of years.

Coastal communities have always relied on the sea for their livelihoods. What is being done to ensure that efforts to protect the marine environment take into account the needs of our coastal communities, and that we eliminate illegal activity that affects the fishing industry?

All the work to improve protection of the marine environment has been underpinned by stakeholder engagement and robust management. Stakeholder engagement has been undertaken at all levels—from national and regional stakeholder workshops, to meetings with marine industries, environmental non-governmental organisations and community groups, and consultation events in towns and villages around the coast. The decisions that the Scottish Government has made to protect the marine environment were based on scientific evidence and took proper account of the wide range of views that were received in response to public consultations.

The current work to devolve management of the Crown Estate, to roll out regional marine planning and to complete the MPA network will ensure that communities continue to have every opportunity to have their say.

Enforcement resources are deployed in Scottish waters using a risk-based intelligence-led system to ensure that illegal activity is deterred or detected.

Given that Marine Scotland sees prevention of electrofishing as a priority, does the Cabinet secretary agree that it is very concerning that there has been only one conviction in the past three years for illegal electrofishing in Galloway and West Dumfries? Does she agree that to ensure that the razor clam beds are protected we should now have an all-out ban on that illegal activity?

Electrofishing for razor clams is currently illegal, and the Government has in its consultation sought views on whether it should be made legal. That consultation closed on 30 September and our response will be published soon.

We consulted on the issue because some recent scientific evidence suggests that electrofishing could be a low-impact method of harvesting razor clams. The subject turns out to be not quite as straightforward as we had assumed. The prohibition is in European Union law, so if steps are to be taken to approve electrofishing, a considerable amount of work will have to be done on management arrangements. I am happy to deal directly with the member on that specific issue, if he so wishes.

Regional marine planning is essential, but so far—as the Cabinet secretary knows—there are just two regional planning partnerships in operation as pilots. How is the Government working with local authorities to get more planning partnerships up and running and to ensure that they have the resource and expertise that are necessary to take that important initiative forward?

I have signed a number of letters today in respect of the Clyde marine plan. Two plans are being progressed—for the Clyde and for Shetland. It is important that we have deliberately chosen two quite different areas so that we can explore issues around how they are to be managed.

It is also important to take things steadily—not all plans will happen in a short space of time. The roll-out of regional plans will take a number of years. I hope that Claudia Beamish will have patience with that, because we have to ensure that what we are doing works in the longer term. There are no immediate plans for a third or fourth regional plan, but that is because the first and the second have to be worked out carefully before we move on to more.

Question 2 has not been lodged.