Foreign flag vessels: EIR release

Information requested

1. How many foreign flag vessels have been recorded as fishing in Scottish waters in the last three years (broken down by year)? If available, can this be broken down by type of vessel and what they are recorded as fishing for?
2. How many foreign flag vessels have been boarded and inspected by Marine Scotland and its partners in the last three years (broken down by year)? If available, can this be broken down by type of vessel and what they are recorded as fishing for?

We sought further clarification from you on 28 March 2023, in order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for:
“Can you clarify what you mean by foreign flagged vessels? Do you mean purely vessels that are not flagged in the UK or do you mean vessels who are flagged in the UK but are owned by companies where the persons with significant control are non-UK domiciled (also known as 'flag boats' or 'flag of convenience')? Or do you mean all non-UK flagged and flag of convenience vessels?

"Can you clarify whether you mean with regard to vessel boardings, whether it includes vessels on transit (Marine Scotland will board vessels who have fished exclusively outwith UK waters and are transiting to a non-UK port of landing) or whether it relates to vessels which have only fished part of or fished exclusively in UK waters during a fishing trip?”

You clarified the details of your request on 29 March 2023 to specify:
“Foreign Flag Vessels - All non-UK flagged and flag of convenience vessels. Vessel Boardings - All vessel boardings both in transit and those who have fished in UK waters exclusively.”

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.

Response

The response to the first part of your question is attached to this document in the file “Non-UK flagged vessels fishing by species and method type 2019-2021.docx”. The attached table provides some of the information you requested. We can only supply data relating to Non-UK flagged vessels.

With regard to the second part of your first question, under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because we record data by nationality and do not break this down into the granular level of the request in to UK flag of convenience vessels.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about UK flag of convenience vessels, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

The response to your second question is attached to this document in the file “Boardings of Non-UK flagged Vessels 2019-2021.docx”. The attached table provides some of the information you requested. We can only supply data relating to Non-UK flagged vessels boarded by Marine Scotland.

With regard to the second part of your second question , under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because we record data by nationality and do not break this down into the granular level of the request into UK flag of convenience vessels. We are also unable to provide data relating to boardings of vessels who have fished in UK waters exclusively as we do not record that level of granular detail in relation to boardings. Vessels boarded may have fished EU, international, or other country waters as well as UK waters during a trip. We also do not hold information on "partners" boarding activities.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about boardings of non-UK flagged and flag of convenience vessels both in transit and those who have fished in UK waters exclusively, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.

Non-UK flagged vessels fishing by species and method type 2019-2021

File type

Word document

File size

40.3 kB

Boardings of Non-UK flagged Vessels 2019-2021

File type

Word document

File size

52.8 kB