Commercial fishery for razor clams using electric current gear consultation: partial BRIA
A partial business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) analysing possible outcomes of the consultation on establishing a commercial fishery for razor clams using electric current fishing gear.
4. Regulatory and EU Alignment Impacts
4.1 Intra-UK Trade Impacts
If Ministers decide not to move to a commercial fishery or to another scientific trial, there would be an impact on intra-UK trade as the market access for goods and services will be greatly reduced, creating an opportunity for demand to be met by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU). Some razor clams are transported and sold in England, this would be expected to reduce in this scenario. This would not unduly affect fishers from other UK regions with most affected fishers being based in Scotland.
4.2 International Trade
There would be impacts on international trade out of Scotland if the commercial fishery is closed. A significant portion of razor clams harvested in Scotland are exported to Asian markets.
4.3 EU Alignment
If the commercial fishery is supported, the use of electrofishing would impact the Scottish Government’s policy to maintain alignment where appropriate with the EU. In this case, the Scottish Government would need to amend Regulation (EU) 2019/1241[4].