Recovery of Inshore Seas

That the Parliament notes the crisis afflicting Scotland’s inshore and small-scale fishing fleet, including the disastrous trade disruption of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, and that these pressures exacerbate the long-standing hardship resulting from declines in the health of inshore seas and fish populations over recent decades; notes the findings of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Marine Assessment 2020, including many concerns for seabed habitats and biogenic reefs, that 46% of fish stocks assessed remain overfished, and that the impact of fishing remains the dominant pressure on the marine environment; welcomes the Scottish Government's commitment to ecosystem-based fisheries management in its Future fisheries: management strategy - 2020 to 2030 and calls on the Scottish Government to ensure fishing impacts on the whole marine ecosystem are factored into decision-making to underpin the resilience of the Scottish fishing industry; supports the Scottish Government’s plans to use spatial management to protect spawning areas and juvenile fish and calls for this to be done with ambition and urgency and, in particular, for dredge and trawl fisheries in line with the recommendations of the 2019 Scallop Management and Conservation Strategy paper and advice from the North West Waters Advisory Council regarding bycatch, and calls on the Scottish Government to ensure that any public funding or support is used to incentivise low impact fishing as part of a blue recovery and long-term transition to sustainable fisheries in line with Sustainable Development Goal 14.6.