Reports of illegal commercial fishing in Western Isles 2022: EIR release

Information requested

Could you please compile and provide to me a record of all reports or complaints of illegal  commercial fishing in the Western Isles received by Marine Scotland in 2022. I am happy to accept redactions of individuals and vessel details within the list. 

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Before answering the question, we would like to clarify that: “Marine Scotland” is now known as the “Marine Directorate.” This is in order to align with the naming convention of other Scottish Government Directorates.

Below is a record of the number and types of reports recorded on our intelligence database received by the Marine Directorate between 1st January 2022 and 31st December 2022 relating to commercial fishing. We consider commercial fishing to mean wild caught fish and does not include aquaculture. The data relates to reports which detail the Western Isles including the individual Isles, as well as the waters surrounding them.

Unlicensed Fishing and Sales	14
MPAs/Restricted Areas	2
Set Nets	4
VMS Non-Compliance	3
Marking of Gear	1
Gear Conflict	1
Illegal Retention of Catch	1

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