Fishing vessels - economic link: island communities impact assessment (ICIA)

Step Four - Assessment

Does your assessment identify any unique impacts on island communities?

No evidence was presented as part of the consultation conducted in 2017 nor following subsequent discussions with relevant stakeholders that indicated that there were any unique island impacts that required to be taken into account.

• Demographic: It is not anticipated there will be any unique impacts.
• Economic: The policy change will impact pelagic vessels based in Shetland in the same way that it will impact pelagic vessels based in Fraserburgh and Peterhead. This may result in further landings into Shetland resulting in increased activity in the island’s pelagic fish processing factory (and therefore increased employment prospects). However, the anticipated impacts both positive (for the processing sector) and negative (for the catching sector) are expected to be similar to mainland communities.
• Gaelic: N/A
• Social: The policy will not have a unique social impact on island communities in terms of deprivation and social exclusion in the islands.

Does your assessment identify any potential barriers or wider impacts?

No additional barriers have been identified, however, as mentioned in previous steps, pelagic fishermen, pelagic companies and some Producer Organisations expressed concerns that there is insufficient pelagic processing capacity, cold storage and freezing facilities in Scotland to enable pelagic fishermen to increase their landings significantly.

However, the pelagic processing sector has shown its ability to adapt to fluctuations in landings of stock and, in response to the consultation and in subsequent discussions with pelagic processors, generally they expressed confidence in their ability to handle the additional anticipated supply of fish.

Are there mitigations already in place for these impacts raised?

Please see step two: Are there any existing design features or mitigations in place?

Is a full Island Communities Impact Assessment required?

You should now determine whether, in your opinion, your policy, strategy or service is likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities).

Are there mitigations in place for the impacts identified and noted above from stakeholders and community consultations?

No significantly different impacts for islands communities are expected therefore no specific mitigations have been put in place to address this. However, mitigations for scheme wide impacts have been addressed. Please see step two: Are there any existing design features or mitigations in place? To see the mitigation schemes for impacts above for further details.

Does the evidence show different circumstances or different expectations or needs, or different experiences or outcomes (such as levels of satisfaction, or different rates of participation)?

Engagement with industry, particularly the consultation, clearly shows that those associated with pelagic vessels which land large quantities of species abroad oppose the proposed changes.

There is broad support from other sections of the fishing industry, the processing sector and related industries for the proposed changes.

Are these different effects likely?

This policy change will have the greatest impact on the pelagic fleet landing mackerel and herring outside of Scotland and pelagic processors. The pelagic fleet are primarily registered in the Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Shetland districts as set out above. To a large degree, pelagic vessels impacted (and their representative bodies) have highlighted potential impacts on their businesses and their concerns over wider impact. We expect the impact on the pelagic fleet which lands abroad to be similar regardless of whether they are registered in Shetland, Fraserburgh or Peterhead.

The same position is true for pelagic processors (which are based in Shetland, Fraserburgh and Peterhead) we would expect additional landings to these processors and the impacts to be similar regardless of location.

In relation to quota gifting we expect to see a continuation of the current trend in uptake of fishing opportunities whereby Shetland based 10mu vessels will continue to see a disproportionate benefit due to the location of fish stocks and capacity of the fleet to catch the arising opportunities.

Are these effects significantly different?

No, whilst Shetland will be impacted to a greater extent (in relative terms of the number of vessels which land large volumes of pelagic stocks abroad), the impact on these businesses is consistent with their equivalents in Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

Could the effect amount to a disadvantage for an island community compared to the mainland or between island groups?

As set out above we would not expect to see a significant disadvantage for Shetland based vessels relative to those in other communities which land large quantities of pelagic stocks abroad. We would expect to see benefits to the Shetland islands processing sector and we would expect to see benefits to the islands as a result of the allocation of gifted quota.

A full Islands Community Impact Assessment is not required

In preparing the ICIA, I have formed an opinion that our policy, strategy or service is not likely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities (including other island communities). The reason for this is detailed below.

Reason for not completing a full ICIA:

Having considered the responses to the consultation carried out in 2017, separate discussions with stakeholders likely to be affected by the policy change and available data, there is no evidence to suggest that the policy change will have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities.

Therefore, we do not consider that a full ICIA is required in relation to amending economic link criteria as the policy change is unlikely to have an effect on an island community which is significantly different from its effect on other communities in Scotland.

Screening ICIA completed by: Marta Machut

Position: International Fisheries – Policy Manager

Signature and date: Marta Machut 15 August 2022

ICIA authorised: Allan Gibb

Position: Acting Deputy Director, Sea Fisheries

Signature and date: 02/09/2022