Commercial fishery for razor clams using electric current gear consultation: partial BRIA

3. Options Considered

3.1 Option 1 – Trial Ends (razor fishing with electricity becomes illegal)

This is the ‘Do Nothing’ Option, the trial ends and therefore fishing for razor clams is no longer permitted. Without moving to another scientific trial or to a commercial fishery, fishing for razor clams would be prohibited according to Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) 2017/419^[1].

3.1.1 Proposal

The trial ending option would mean that fishers would be unable to fish for razor clams in Scotland after 31 January 2027.

The businesses and vessels that are currently participants in the trial would have to diversify and it is possible this would bring some businesses into financial difficulty after the trial ends.

3.1.2 Sectors and Groups Affected

Trial participants and The Scottish Razor Clam Association.

3.1.3 Benefits

This is the ‘Do Nothing’ option so has no additional benefits.

3.1.4 Costs

The principal cost associated with this option is the loss of a potential commercial fishery with low environmental impact. We estimate this fishery would have a landed value of between £4 and £10 million annually, supporting in the region of 90-100 jobs.

Although this is the ‘Do nothing’ option it would also have regulatory and enforcement costs which were between £1.5-2 million annually pre-trial. The legal status of razor clam fishing is different today than it was pre-trial, and we do not understand the likelihood of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing that may emerge as a consequence of razor clam fishing returning to a prohibition. Therefore we do not know if the enforcement cost would be similar (adjusting for contemporary costs), however we can say with some confidence that there would be an increased cost of enforcement compared to a scientific trial or a commercial fishery.

IUU fishing of course has environmental costs, which we would expect to have adverse impacts on:

• Other activities that benefit from biodiversity such as other forms of fishing, marine tourism, recreational diving, sea angling
• The overall biodiversity and visual appeal of Scotland’s seas and inshore areas
• Other marine sectors that depend on voluntary observance of relevant site closures or other regulations such as offshore renewable development
• Crime rates in and around harbours
• Human health costs when consuming high risk seafood that has not been through proper food safety regulations
• Worker safety in an unregulated workplace.

Whilst there is a risk of IUU fishing should Ministers decide not to move to a commercial fishery or to another scientific trial given the history of this fishery, this assessment does not imply that this option is not recommended because of the enforcement cost and the impacts of IUU fishing, rather that we consider a commercial fishery to be a low-impact sustainable option that would deliver economic benefits to fishers and communities, which we contrast with the loss of those benefits.

We recognise there are options available to us today that were not practical previously that may make compliance enforcement less resource intensive. For example, even in the case of a prohibition, the law could be amended to require all vessels that we consider likely to have an interest in fishing for razor clams to operate REM systems. Additionally, rules on diver participation in fishing could be examined, however we consider a commercial fishery to have lower inherent cost, as outlined below.

3.2 Option 2 – Establish a limited commercial fishery

3.2.1 Proposal

This option considers the establishment of a limited commercial fishery.

We wish to explore various views under this option, as outlined in the consultation document.

3.2.2 Sectors and Groups Affected

As for Option 1 - Trial participants and the Scottish Razor Clam Association, as well as inshore fishing businesses not involved in the trial that may have a desire to begin fishing for razor clams.

3.2.3 Benefits

The arising benefit would be limited to a small number of vessels targeting razor clams using the electrofishing method. Through consultation we intend to more clearly understand likely interest of vessels not involved in the trial to begin fishing for razor clams at which point we will have a better understanding of the scale and corresponding economic benefit of a commercial fishery. Such a fishery would be managed through integration of conservation policy objectives to ensure derived economic and social benefits go hand in hand with low environmental impact. The scientific trial fisheries assessment demonstrates this approach is possible with this type of fishing gear. We allow for views on other types of gear, but note that conservation and management advice for these would typically be more challenging to manage.

We seek views in the consultation on establishing such a fishery at a scale based on stock assessments and trends in landings per unit effort determined during the trial. We expect a commercial fishery to have capacity to be carefully managed at a slightly larger scale in some areas such as the Outer Hebrides and the Firth of Forth.

The policy aligns with the national benefit objective in the Fisheries Act 2020 (to support coastal communities and maintain the role of the seafood sector in employment and food supply). Another benefit of this option is that it keeps any fishing activity in regulated oversight which maintains the environmental, food and worker safety benefits of sustainable fishing activity. In 2024, active trial vessels landed 546 tonnes of razor clams, at a value of £4.5 million^[2]. 22 vessels had derogations allowing them to participate and 81 people were employed throughout 2024^[3].

3.2.4 Costs

In keeping with other recent implementations of REM in commercial fishing in Scotland, vessels could potentially incur costs related to REM hardware and data management for compliance reasons in a future razor clam fishery.

The Scottish Government does not commit funds to the purchase, installation and maintenance of REM devices and hosting. The cost to host REM data in the razor clam trial is commercially confidential but a relatively low amount. Costs of REM equipment are similarly not publicly available, however trial participants have reported equipment lifespan of several years, meaning this is an infrequent cost to businesses. We seek views in the call for evidence section on expanding REM to cover other aspects such as CCTV or water sensors, recognising these could have accountability and management benefits while also being a higher cost to participating businesses.

Regulators may also face costs in administrative terms for example if requests for shellfish classification increase dramatically.

Abrupt changes in the number of eligible fishers has the potential to affect the price of razor clams, which is anecdotally sensitive to demand and variation in supply from competitor fisheries, such as that in operation in Ireland.

3.3 Option 3 – A new scientific trial

3.3.1 Proposal

This option is put forward for views, particularly in consideration for regions where stock assessments and landings per unit effort (LPUE) data are lacking, or to progress research goals that were not met such as studying effects of electric current gear on sandeels and flatfish. A new scientific trial could be implemented in a subset of areas with a subset of fishers.

3.3.2 Sectors and Groups Affected

As for Option 1 & 2 - Trial participants and The Razor Clam Association of Scotland, and any other fishing businesses that may seek to be involved.

3.3.3 Benefits

The arising benefit would be a more robust scientific evidence base for stock management in the areas considered for a new scientific trial, and better information on impacts on prey species of importance to protected species such as seabirds and marine mammals.

3.3.4 Costs

Vessels could potentially incur costs related to REM and data management for compliance reasons in an alternative razor clam scientific trial.

This option may also be more complex to regulate, if there were two tiers of regulation on razor fishing (scientific/commercial) to oversee. The resource requirement for the Scottish Government and associated agencies in continuing to allocate resource to studying fishing in what have been sporadically utilised areas would need to be considered against other competing demands for staff and research budgets.

If a decision is made post consultation to proceed with this option, it may go hand in hand with closing other areas to fishing, or phasing the opening of areas to concentrate resources. To maintain sustainable harvesting levels, this may reduce fleet capacity and this may have different local effects. Discontinuing fishing activity in one area of Scotland’s inshore seas may have an impact on fishing vessels local to that area that cannot be mitigated by moving elsewhere or targeting other species.