2 March, 2007

THE SCOTTISH Parliament yesterday (Thursday) agreed the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill, which should support the sustainable development of the freshwater fisheries and aquaculture industries.

Shetland Aquaculture manager David Sandison said the bill mainly concerned the control of fish disease, but should have little impact in Shetland where standards were already high.

"This will give additional powers to inspectors to issue notices on people, but anyone adhering to the Shetland code of good practice should not, quite frankly, even need to be inspected," Mr Sandison said.

Deputy environment minister Sarah Boyack said: "We want to support the sustainable development of aquaculture and fisheries in Scotland.

"This bill reinforces the good practice that already exists across the industry and will increase public confidence by ensuring that all fish farm operators have to meet certain standards.

"This lays strong foundations for the future of both freshwater fisheries and aquaculture, for the benefit of the whole of Scotland."

The effect the bill will have on aquaculture will be to:

* introduce a duty on fish farmers to collect, retain and make available for inspection information relating to fish parasites and containment of fish;
* give powers to allow inspectors authorised by ministers to take samples of stock and measure levels of parasites;
* allow enforcement action to be taken where farms do not have satisfactory measures in place to control parasites or contain fish;
* regulate live fish movements into specified areas in marine waters;
* allow ministers to establish a scheme to make payments for any fish destroyed for the purposes of disease controls;
* increase powers to allow ministers to fund initiatives relating to sea fisheries, freshwater fisheries, aquaculture and inshore fisheries.

The bill will also bring in a system of administrative penalties for certain sea fisheries offences.

For inshore fisheries the bill will increase the maximum fine level for an offence under a Regulating Order to £50,000, and provide that the discretionary revocation of a licence by the grantee can happen after the licence holder is convicted of one fisheries offence.