Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement (IFMI): call for evidence

Foreword

This Call for Evidence seeks input from people with expert knowledge of inshore fisheries in Scotland (e.g. academics, fishers, national and regional fisheries representatives, eNGOs, seafood processors, coastal communities). We anticipate input to range from papers and data to relaying of personal experience and expert opinion to inform development of this policy.

The Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate has an Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement (IFMI) Programme that presents an opportunity to develop a new framework for agile inshore fisheries management. Our vision is that this framework will enable us to tailor a wider range of fisheries management tools to the changing needs of our marine environment and fishers, based on the best available scientific data. Our Fisheries Management Strategy outlines our commitment to working with stakeholders, and this framework offers an opportunity to strengthen existing arrangements. The IFMI programme will consider a structure that enables a greater focus on strategic decision making both regionally and nationally. It will help us to manage fishing activity within the space available, and consider how responsibility for management and delivery can be shared whilst respecting the ultimate accountability of Scottish Ministers to the Scottish Parliament and the general public.

Following this Call for Evidence, Scottish Ministers have committed to consulting on the IFMI framework in late 2025. Through this call for evidence your experience of Scotland’s inshore fisheries will inform the development of the IFMI policy proposal ahead of this consultation.

Wherever possible, please submit evidence to support your answer.

Why

Scotland’s inshore fisheries are primarily managed through the UK Fishing Licence framework alongside other mechanisms to deliver a suite of technical measures such as Minimum Landing Size, gear restrictions, quota allocations, etc. However, structures to enable stakeholder input and development of regional variation are currently somewhat limited.

The IFMI Programme was developed in 2024 partly in response to stock assessment advice and stakeholder concern highlighting sustainability issues with our crab and lobster stocks. The programme seeks to consider available management mechanisms to improve the sustainability of these fisheries. Following engagement with our Fisheries Management and Conservation (FMAC) Inshore Subgroup, a selection of interim management measures were implemented to respond to pressure on stocks. This exercise highlighted that additional management options would benefit from some form of regional variation however the framework for developing and delivering them is currently lacking. This has also been echoed by evidence given to the Rural Affairs and Islands (RAI) Committee in the Scottish Parliament during recent committee sessions^{[1], [2], [3]}. The RAI Committee evidence reinforced that a more discrete, localised approach to fisheries management carries many benefits. The Scottish Government is therefore keen to explore how a new framework for inshore fisheries management would support the delivery of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy along with wider objectives and commitments. Stakeholders have expressed their support for this approach.

Discussions with our FMAC Inshore Subgroup and network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups, as well as broader engagement, have highlighted the complexity and diversity of views relating to future inshore fisheries management. We are therefore keen to broaden these discussions to facilitate input from other relevant experts in the topic. Issues raised by the subgroup members have been considered and reflected in the drafting of this Call for Evidence, to ensure we receive the evidence and expert input necessary to inform development of this framework.

Parallel to this Call for Evidence, we are currently reviewing other work streams related to inshore fisheries management, including reviews of the existing stakeholder engagement channels (FMAC, RIFG), our May 2024 Interim Measures, and our Operations activity. The outcomes from these reviews will be published prior to the IFMI consultation in 2025 and will form part of our wider evidence base when developing the IFMI framework. They will be considered together alongside wider objectives, priorities and requirements of the Scottish Government (e.g. Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2024-25, National Marine Plan including Regional Marine Planning, The Fisheries Act 2020, etc.)