End of Year Fish Negotiations

As an amendment to motion S4M-11825 in the name of Richard Lochhead (End of Year Fish Negotiations), leave out from second "and supports" to end and insert "; believes that, before the ban on discards is introduced, the Scottish Government should ensure that a comprehensive plan is prepared setting out how the ban will work in practice without damaging Scotland’s whitefish sector; notes the desire of the Scottish industry to see a phased approach implemented to the discard ban for the main whitefish stocks due to come into effect in January 2016; further notes the industry’s wish for any such phased approach to proceed initially with haddock, and recognises the strong concerns of the Scottish pelagic industry regarding the EU-Faroese reciprocal arrangements on mackerel."