FISHERIES Secretary Fergus Ewing has written to Michael Gove calling for changes to the UK Fisheries Bill.
Although critical that Scottish ministers only received the final version the day before it was laid in Parliament, Ewing said the Bill has “broadly positive outcomes”.
However, due to “unresolved concerns”, the MSP has now urged the UK Environment Secretary to amend the Bill over seafood levies, fishing quotas and effort limits.
Ewing is calling for the Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish) to be able to operate differently in different parts of the UK and also for control of levies imposed by Seafish to be devolved to Scotland.
He wrote: “The existing Seafish levy is not fit for purpose, providing an inadequate level of support to the sector in Scotland and resulting in insufficient marketing and promotion of Scottish seafood.”
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