3. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the safety of Scotland’s fishermen when at sea. (S6O-02642)

The Scottish Government takes the safety of all fishers in Scottish waters very seriously. Although maritime safety regulation remains a reserved power of the United Kingdom Government, the Scottish Government continues to support the work of the Scottish fishing safety group, which has worked with partners to support a range of safety improvements through the marine fund Scotland. The group is a joint fishing industry and Scottish Government initiative that supports Scottish fishing on safety matters. It has clear aims and objectives involving efforts to achieve zero deaths annually and to reduce the number of accidents across the industry. The group, which is co-chaired by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, consists of 14 representatives from across Scotland and the UK bodies that are responsible for maritime safety regulation.

The Cabinet secretary will be aware of the video showing the aggressive and downright dangerous behaviour last week of the French-registered Spanish vessel Antonio Maria towards the Shetland fishing boat Defiant, 18 miles east of Unst. The Defiant had shot its gear when the longliner Antonio Maria circled and tried to foul the Defiant’s propeller. That is not the first time that there has been such an incident in waters off Shetland. The case of another Spanish vessel—the German-registered Pesorsa Dos—is well documented.

Constituents question where Scotland’s fishery protection vessels were in all that and what action, if any, has been taken to follow up on the latest shocking incident. Can the cabinet secretary respond to that question? Can she also indicate what representations the Scottish Government has made to the UK Government and the flag states about fishing vessels that appear to have little concern for safety at sea and fishermen’s lives?

I appreciate Beatrice Wishart’s questions and the concern that such incidents have caused. Safety in the marine environment is a complex area, with various jurisdictions involved. If I am not able to cover everything in my response today, I am happy to follow up with the member.

I understand that the incident that took place last Monday occurred outside territorial waters and relates to a maritime safety incident. Under devolution, the Scottish Government’s powers are restricted to enforcing marine and fishery-related offences: they do not extend to enforcement of maritime safety regulations. Maritime safety is a reserved function, and jurisdiction over those incidents rests with the flag-state authorities of the vessels involved.

Although there was no evidence of a fishery offence taking place, the Scottish Government deployed its marine protection vessel MPV Hirta to investigate the incident further, and it has passed information that was gathered to the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

In terms of next steps, senior operational staff are arranging a follow-up meeting with the MCA and Police Scotland to discuss further opportunities to work collaboratively to support safe working practices in the marine environment.

The Presiding Officer:

There is much interest among members in this issue, so I ask for concise questions and answers.

For years, fishery protection staff have been underpaid and undervalued. That needs to change to keep that expertise and experience in the service. What is the Cabinet secretary doing to retain officers and to strengthen the protection fleet to enable better policing of our waters?

Rhoda Grant will, no doubt, be aware that we take a risk-based approach to incidents that are reported to the marine directorate, because we have limited resources. We have a number of vessels, but we have, of course, a very large marine area to try to cover and get across. That is why we have a risk-based approach in place. However, we make the best of the resources that we have.

I very much value and appreciate the work of the teams that we have working across the marine directorate—in particular, in compliance and working across the vessels, which I have had the opportunity to visit.

If there are particular issues that Rhoda Grant would like to raise with me, I would be more than happy to follow them up.