2024 Scottish Quota Management Rules

2. Allocating Quota

2.1 Description of Method

8. UK quota is apportioned between the national fisheries authorities using the method set out in the UK QMRs. In accordance with section 2 of UK QMRs, Scottish quota is distributed by the Marine Directorate to the following groups:

a) Scottish registered 10-metres-and-under vessels not attributed to a Scottish Sectoral Group (‘10mu Pool’);

b) Scottish registered over-10-metres-vessels not attributed to a Scottish Sectoral Group (‘O10m Pool’); and

c) Vessels registered to a Scottish port administered by:

i. Recognised UK Fish Producer Organisations (‘POs’)^[4] which have been delegated quota management responsibilities on behalf of their members by Marine Directorate;

ii. Scottish-recognised Quota Management Groups (‘QMGs’).

The first two groups are referred to collectively as the ‘non-sector’, in contrast to POs and QMGs which are collectively referred to as ‘Sectoral Groups’.

9. Scottish quota is distributed in several ways, depending on whether the quota is considered Existing Quota or Additional Quota.

a) Existing Quota (‘EQ’) is the proportion of the UK total allowable catch (‘TAC’) apportioned to Scotland as EQ under the UK QMRs.

b) Additional Quota (‘AQ’) is the share of quota, apportioned to Scotland, which the UK secures as an independent Coastal State above the EQ baseline.

10. The allocation methods for EQ and AQ are set out below. The Marine Directorate may also retain EQ and/or AQ centrally for other purposes.

2.2 Method for allocating Existing Quota

11. The Marine Directorate will make the following special allocations from Scotland’s EQ share:

a) Scottish 10mu Pool North Sea mackerel fishery: 1,000 tonnes will be allocated for landings by vessels fishing in the 10mu Pool which are authorised to fish by the Marine Directorate for mackerel by handline in ICES areas IVa and IVb. The amount will be shared among separately managed sub-fisheries in the Moray Firth, Shetland, Orkney and East Coast (as set out in Section 4 of these QMRs)

b) 10mu Pool handline western mackerel fishery: 100 tonnes (over and above the amount apportioned to the 10mu Pool under the UK QMRs) will be allocated for vessel fishing in the 10mu Pool which are authorised to fish by the Marine Directorate for mackerel by handline in ICES areas VI and VII.

c) North Sea (NS) cod: 50 tonnes (over and above the amount apportioned to the 10mu Pool under the UK QMRs) will be allocated for landings by vessels authorised to fish by the Marine Directorate in the 10mu Pool.

12. Where, on the basis of predicted uptake, it appears to the Marine Directorate that allocations for any of the stocks listed in 10 will not be taken in full before the end of the season/year, any remaining quota may be redistributed to Sectoral Groups, or may be retained for banking purposes.

13. The remaining EQ apportioned to Scottish Ministers (the Marine Directorate) by the UK Government (see section 2 of the UK QMRs), will be divided by the Marine Directorate into three amounts assigned to:

a) The 10mu Pool;

b) The O10m Pool; and

c) UK Sectoral Groups on behalf of their Scottish administered vessels.

14. The amounts of EQ distributed directly to the 10mu Pool and the O10m Pool is determined by the UK apportionment process. Marine Directorate may distribute EQ beyond these amounts (as outlined in 10). The quotas available to the 10mu Pool and O10m Pool will be held centrally by the Marine Directorate and managed on the basis of periodic catch limits.

15. The remaining EQ held by the Marine Directorate will, in general, be distributed to UK Sectoral Groups in proportion to the number of Fixed Quota Allocation units (‘FQA units’) held for each stock on licences administered by Scotland and in membership of a Sectoral Group on 1 January of the quota year.

16. In-year changes to Scotland’s share of EQ, due to a TAC change, will require a new distribution process to be carried out for any adjusted quotas.

2.3 Method for distributing Additional Quota

17. Special allocations of AQ to the non-sector groups are set out in Annex D. Section 11.1.1 details special allocations to the 10mu Pool and Section 11.1.2 details special allocations to the O10m Pool.

18. No further share of AQ will be distributed to the 10mu Pool above the shares listed section Section 11.1.1 a:b, or which would otherwise set the aggregated allocation to the 10mu Pool above the totals listed in Section 11.1.1 c:k.

19. There are no individual allocations for vessels in the O10m Pool, instead they fish against the periodic Scottish Over-10-Metre Pool catch limits set by quota managers in the Marine Directorate.

20. Where, on the basis of predicted uptake, it appears to the Marine Directorate that allocations for any of the stocks listed in Section 11.1.1 or Section 11.1.2 will not be taken in full before the end of the season/year, any remaining quota may be redistributed to Sectoral Groups, or may be retained for banking purposes.

21. Scotland will distribute its remaining AQ on the individual vessels’, administered by Scotland, Historic Track Record (HTR) for recorded landings, for each stock, during an annually updated 5-year reference period. For 2024 this reference period will be 2015-19. In following years the start and end of the reference period will increment by one year. Vessels over 10m in length, active at 1 January of the quota year, will be distributed AQ, for respective stocks, on the basis of their HTR share within the total active fleet.

22. Recorded landings made by vessels inactive at 1 January of the quota year are excluded from calculating the HTR shares.

23. For vessels replaced during and since the track record period, and which are active at 1 January of the quota year, the following will apply: the Marine Directorate will link the track record of an inactive vessel with its direct replacement where the ownership is identical and where the former vessel has landed at least 200 tonnes of quota stocks in total in the reference period.

24. Recorded landings by non-sector vessels 10m and under in length have been excluded for the purposes of making HTR calculations. The HTR of Scottish-administered vessels operating in a UK Sectoral Group will be summed and the distribution of AQ made to the respective Sectoral Group.

25. The Marine Directorate will provide to each Sectoral Group the HTR break-down of each vessel operating in the group.

26. Each group’s distributed figures (EQ and AQ) will be presented separately in the ‘Scottish Distribution’ document and then summed and presented as a total distributed share for each Sectoral Group.

27. From 2025 onwards, AQ for West of Scotland cod will not be allocated to sectoral vessels on the basis of HTR, instead it will be allocated following an application process.

28. Where the UK gains quota from transfers of quota from other Coastal States (for example, transfers of quota from other Coastal States in exchange for access to UK waters), the Marine Directorate retains the option to allocate quota apportioned to Scotland from such transfers on an equal basis between selected vessels which have met criteria as identified by the Marine Directorate.

2.4 Attribution of FQA units on Scottish licence entitlements and holding statements

29. Holders of Scottish administered licence entitlements and holding statements may attribute the associated FQA units, via submission of an AFL8 form, to a Sectoral Group, to the 10mu Pool or the O10m Pool for the UK Government apportionment process, under the UK QMRs, and for distribution by Marine Directorate, under the Scottish QMRs.

30. FQA Units which are not attributed to a Sectoral Group, or where an AFL8 return is not submitted prior to the deadline identified on the AFL8 form, will be attributed to the allocations for the 10mu Pool or the O10m Pool. AFL8 forms will be issued to the licence holder in January of each year. It is the responsibility of the licence holder to ensure that the address details are up to date. This can be done at your local Marine Directorate Fishery Office.

2.5 In-year re-distribution of Scottish quota

31. A key means of maximising uptake of Scottish quota (insofar as such is consistent with market conditions) is the ability to swap quota between Sectoral Groups and groups administered by the Marine Directorate. The Marine Directorate also retains the option, after engagement with Sectoral Groups and having regard to an assessment of economic and biological impacts, to recover quota from Scottish licensees and re-distribute quota where it appears unlikely that the Marine Directorate’s quota distribution to those licensees will be caught in full. In considering any requests for re-distribution of quota, the Marine Directorate will, in addition, consider whether licensees making the request have made genuine efforts to acquire additional quota through realistic swaps with licensees who are holding unused quota. The Marine Directorate will also, where appropriate, have regard to the views of other UK Fisheries Administrations (‘FAs’), particularly in relation to POs that received quota from more than one FA.

2.6 Arrangements for particular quota stocks and fisheries

32. The Marine Directorate has the following arrangements, further to Paragraphs 17 to 30 above, for quota stocks which are different to those laid out in Section 2 of the UK QMRs:

a) Norway Anglerfish: All of the ANF/04-N tonnage which Scotland is apportioned by the UK is allocated to Scottish vessels using the HTR for the ANF/2AC4-C stock