Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) fishing data for 49E6, 49E5, 48E6 and 48E5: EIR release

Information requested

I was wondering if I can request the following VMS fishing data:

• ICES Rectangles 49E6, 49E5, 48E6 and 48E5 for all of 2019 up to August 2020 (include Sept and Oct 2020 if possible, but we are aware of system changes at end of August meaning this may not be available);

If available, the following fields would be useful:
• Gear type
• Nationality
• Length
• Tonnage
• Activity
• Speed

Response

Please find attached a copy of information requested.

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI202000105377 - Information released - VMS data

File type

Excel document

File size

2.1 MB