MSPs Urged to Support the Pledge to Help the Scottish Fishing Sector

That the Parliament welcomes the latest Industry Trends and Attitudes report, published by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF); believes that the fishing industry stands at a pivotal juncture and faces pressing challenges from the spatial squeeze of competing marine interests to debates surrounding sustainability and conservation; acknowledges what it sees as an overwhelmingly positive public perception of fishing and the crucial role that it plays for coastal communities and national food and energy security; urges MSPs of all political parties to take time to understand the detail and nuance of the Scottish fishing and seafood industry in championing what it considers to be the nutritious, sustainable and climate-smart food that it produces; considers that fishing needs to be supported and properly protected in increasingly crowded seas to ensure that the right balance is struck between conservation and sustainable harvesting, while recognising that the sector will play an important part in how Scotland reaches net zero; commits to working with the SFF to secure a bright future in fishing; recognises what it sees as the courage of the men and women who brave the waters each day, and whose skilled professionalism, it believes, guarantees that the balance between harvesting and conservation are maintained at all times, and urges MSPs to pledge to support Scotland’s fishing communities by backing fishermen at sea and their colleagues ashore as a vital part of Scotland’s food story, by being champions of the healthy, nutritious and sustainable food that they produce, by being proud of what it sees as this low-carbon, climate-smart food sector, by supporting the reported calls for strong, focused science to increase understanding by backing the industry to get a fair deal in Scotland's reportedly crowded seas, by agreeing that food security is as important as energy security, by working with fishermen and fishing communities to ensure that they will not only survive but will thrive in the decades to come, and by having pride in Scotland's seas and all those who feed people from them.