Information and data relating to scallop dredging and fishing: EIR release

Information requested

1. How many instances of suspicious or illegal fishing activity involving the scallop fleet has the Scottish Government/ Marine Scotland identified since Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) was installed on those vessels?
2. How has this been categorised and recorded by Scottish Government/Marine Scotland and what action has followed from this?
3. How does the Scottish Government monitor the data flowing from the REM installed on the scallop fleet?
4. What resources does the Scottish Government have in place to monitor this data, who has access to it, how often is it monitored, and what is the average response time to any suspicious or suspected illegal fishing activity identified from the data?
5. How many Scottish registered scallop dredge vessels currently have active installations of REM?
6. How many Scottish registered scallop dredge vessels have been operating with an active installation of REM since 1st January?
7. How many hours of active scallop dredging has been undertaken by Scottish registered scallop vessels with active installation of REM since 1st January?
8. How many hours of scallop dredging has been carried out by Scottish registered scallop vessels with active installation of REM inside areas where scallop dredging is prohibited and by how many vessels?

In order to help us provide you with the information required, clarification was sought from you on 5 September 2023 with respect to your second question above:

“Could you please clarify what is meant by the term “categorised” – whether it’s the type of offence, the severity of the offence, how we investigate them or even under what type of Enforcement action is taken?”

Your response received on 5 September 2023 stated:

“I'm seeking clarity on how you record the information. ie the type of offence, and what enforcement action has been taken, if applicable. Further clarification was sought from you on 11 September 2023 with respect to questions 7 and 8 you posed:

“Due to further searches we have now undertaken whilst preparing our response to you, in order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for, we still require some further information from you.

In particular we seek further clarity, in relation to questions 7 and 8, with regards to the number of hours of active scallop dredging undertaken by Scottish registered scallop vessels. There are no restrictions to the number of hours dredging and for this reason we have no business need to collate this information routinely in a format that could be released to you – the raw data itself is stored in our internal systems and requires extraction and processing in order to calculate the number of hours of active scallop dredging. Due to the large amount of data held for the period of interest, to source this information would place an unnecessary burden on staff and would mean if this question remains unmodified we will likely need to refuse this part of the request as manifestly unreasonable.

Essentially, regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs is concerned with the effect of a request, or series of requests, on the authority and its staff. The following factors will be relevant to determining whether a request is manifestly unreasonable:

1. It would impose a significant burden on the public authority.
2. It does not have a serious purpose or value.
3. It is designed to cause disruption or annoyance to the public authority.
4. It has the effect of harassing the public authority.
5. It would otherwise, in the opinion of a reasonable person, be considered to be manifestly unreasonable or disproportionate.

The decision to reject a request on manifestly unreasonable grounds is one the Scottish Government does not take lightly and very rarely exercises. We recognise and encourage disclosing information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, on this occasion we have no business need to collate the information you request in a format that can be provided to you, as explained above, and it would impose a significant burden on the business area involved.

Under regulation 9 (duty to provide advice and assistance) of the EIRs we would like to suggest that you might like to modify your request to the number of days, rather than number of hours, as we can provide this much more easily if it would be of interest to you. Please can you respond as soon as possible to advise us to help us comply with the due date for our response on 26 September 2023."

You responded on 11 September 2023 stating:

"Further to your query, please delete questions 7 and 8."

As such I can confirm I will only be responding to questions 1 to 6 of your response above.

Response

I am providing a copy of some of the information that you requested.

1. Since the requirement to have installed Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) equipment on vessels targeting King Scallops was in force, there have been eleven cases reported to Marine Directorate – Operations, Enforcement Standards and Operational Assurance team in relation to such vessels.

2. The eleven cases have been categorised and had enforcement action taken as follows:

		Enforcement Action Taken
Category of Case	Number of cases	No further proceedings	Official Warning issued	Fixed Penalty Notice issued	Referral to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
Excess Dredges within Inshore waters	4			4 x £2,000
Fishing in Closed/Restricted area	5	2*		1 x £2,000	2**
Non/Late submission of electronic logbook data	2	1	1

*One suspected infringement transferred to different administration
**Both suspected infringements are currently in the process of being referred to COPFS.

3. Marine Directorate monitor the Scottish Scallop fleet on a risk-based approach to ascertain compliance with the Regulation of Scallop Fishing (Scotland) order 2017, in particular the number of permitted dredges depending on sea area, and designated Marine Protected Area legislation and other closed or restricted areas.

The factors considered include the capability of the vessel such as the maximum number of dredges it can physically deploy, the area(s) where fishing operations are being conducted, and the proximity to any vulnerable sites.

The data is analysed through a portal which is accessed remotely and consists of GPS location data, winch sensor data detailing deployment of fishing gear & CCTV imagery data showing fishing activities.

Data is analysed using a risk-based sampling program.
Low risk is defined as a vessel that can deploy a maximum of 8 dredges per side with a tow bar of no more than 7.5 meters in length. Analysis on 1 haul per day.

Medium risk is defined as a vessel that can deploy a maximum of 10 dredges per side with a tow bar of no more than 7.5 meters in length. Analysis on 2 hauls per day if fishing in 0-6nm zone, and 1 haul per day if fishing in 12nm+ zone.

High risk is defined as a vessel that can deploy a maximum of 14 dredges per side with no length restrictions on the tow bar, and vessels working close to MPAs. Analysis on 3 hauls per day if fishing in 0-6nm zone, and 6-12nm zone, and 2 hauls per day if fishing in 12nm zone (unless the vessel can only carry max 12 dredges per side, in which case 1 haul per day). Location and winch sensor data is continuously monitored on vessels in proximity to MPAs and other closed or restricted areas, CCTV imagery data is reviewed where location and winch data indicates an incursion into an MPA and other closed or restricted areas.

Extra analysis is conducted where intelligence is received relating to illegal scallop fishing or gear conflicts.

4.The Scottish Government currently has a dedicated team of 3 officers monitoring REM data, additional officers are utilised when necessary. Access to the system is protected for data protection purposes, only officers with permissions are able to interrogate the systems. Where potential illegality is identified officers immediately investigate with a view to producing an investigation report to the Enforcement Standards and Operational Assurance team as soon as possible, usually within weeks, if not before. This is dependent on the access to suitable witnesses to corroborate the identity of the master and to interview the accused where appropriate.

5. 81 vessels.

6. In total 56 vessels, as of 1st January 2023 there has been 9 vessels that have solely fished out with Scottish waters and as such don’t require active REM, in addition we have another 8 vessels who have not fished for Scallops this calendar year and 8 vessels where no fishing has taken place. In total 25 vessels who do not require to have REM switched on.

After clarification was sought by us question 7 and 8 were withdrawn by you.

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