Marine Protection Vessels (MPVs) inspections: EIR release

Information requested

1. Any documents describing the current procedure for selecting vessels for random inspections (at sea or in port) by the Directorate's fleet of Marine Protection Vessels (MPVs).

2. A list, in .csv format, of all random inspections carried out by MPVs since 1st January 2022 to the date at which you process this request including for each inspection: the name of the MPV carrying it out; whether the inspection was at sea, in port, at a fish market or where, if elsewhere; under which country's flag the vessel being inspected was registered; the country of ownership of the vessel under inspection, whether the inspection led to any disciplinary or advisory action (and if so what: FPN, advisory letter, request to leave area), and the location where the inspection took place.

Response

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.

In relation to part 1 of your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. This is because documents describing the Marine Directorate’s procedures for selecting vessels for inspections, either at sea or in port, are intended as internal documents only as they contain sensitive information and are under constant review. The information they contain includes detailed analysis and assessments of strategic risks, vessels, fishing sectors, and intelligence received.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because the public may be interested in how vessels fishing in Scottish waters are selected for inspection. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in the Marine Directorate’s ability to effectively use its resources and assets to monitor and enforce marine and fisheries legislation.

Additionally, some of the information requested may be protected by the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.

In relation to part 2 of your request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you asked for. The attached csv file details the name of the MPV that carried out the inspection on a vessel (column C), the ICES statistical rectangle in which the inspection took place (column D), the flag state (country) the inspected vessel is registered to (A) and the outcome of the inspection (columns E-I). We do not record the country of ownership of the vessel, although it is usually the same as the flag state.

If an infringement of fisheries legislation was found during an inspection, one of the following actions (recorded in columns E-H of the spreadsheet) can be taken:

• Verbal Rebrief given
• Advisory Letter issued
• Warning Letter issued
• Further Investigation undertaken.

Where further investigation was required the outcome of the investigation is recorded in the final column (I) of the spreadsheet. Further information about the Marine Directorate’s use of Fixed Penalty Notices can be found at: Marine compliance: fixed penalty notices - gov.scot 

About FOI

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

EIR - 202500449742 - Information released - Annex

File type

CSV file

File size

45.2 kB