Politics: Marine funding will help support innovation and sustainable practices

Along the coastline of Banffshire and Buchan Coast, there is a picturesque clifftop at Rosehearty.

Last summer, I stopped at the top and looked out over the North Sea. Aside from the spectacular coastal scenery, these rocks are the closest point of the British mainland to Norway.

If you were to look at the 16th century map, the Carta Marina, you would be forgiven for thinking Scotland was a stone’s throw away from both Norway and Denmark.

While the first map of the Nordic countries to give details and place names greatly exaggerates our proximity, our relative closeness both in geography and culture has meant that, for many centuries, the commercial and social connections between Scotland and the rest of Europe – particularly its northern reaches – have gone from strength to strength.

Our coastal communities were promised a "sea of opportunity" with our exit from the European Union.

Speaking with fisheries stakeholders recently, I was given numerous examples within the fishing industry still suffering the consequences, more than seven and a half years on from the vote, of the terrible Brexit deal negotiated by the UK Government.

Some of our seafood-processing businesses are composed of up to 90 per cent migrant workers and our loss of freedom of movement, coupled with hostile immigration policies, is threatening Scotland’s flagship industries.

Without the full powers of independence, the Scottish Government is limited to what it can do to mitigate the disaster of Brexit.

However, I welcome the £14 million announced this week for marine and fishing businesses. In total, 91 projects will be supported with grants ranging from under £1000 to up to £1.6 million.

This funding will go a long way to support innovation and sustainable practices in our blue economy.

Some of these projects include modernising seafood processing facilities to reduce energy and increase efficiencies. At a time where the costs of energy and fuel are high, this is of vital importance.

Harbour improvements are also among the projects being supported and I know from my meetings with port authorities in the constituency that significant investment in our ports is necessary to build capacity as we seek to increase our renewable energy and carbon capture and storage offering.

I was particularly glad to see community clean ups and marine litter prevention work being supported by the Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland which is now in its third year.

Last year, my office team and I spent a morning cleaning up Fraserburgh beach. Each of us managed to fill a whole black bin bag.

The Scottish Government has committed to maintaining the full allocation for Marine Fund Scotland, but an independent Scotland, within the EU receiving pre-Brexit levels of funding, could much better support our seafood and marine industries.

The UK Government should provide the sector with their deserved share of funding so that projects like the wide variety being supported by the Scottish Government, can continue long into the future and I will continue to call on the UK Government to do so both within and outwith the Scottish Parliament.

We need to ensure that funding goes directly to those who know our blue economy best.

Our fishers know our seas. They are custodians of our shores and play a vital role in our food security.

In the weeks and months to come, as a representative of Banffshire and Buchan Coast, but also as convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Fisheries and Coastal Communities, I will be working closely with fishers and other marine stakeholders across the constituency to encourage everyone to eat more locally landed fish and to address the myriad issues they face, including climate change, the spatial squeeze and, of course, the aftermath of Brexit.

If you are a fisher or a member of a fishing organisation and would like to join the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Fisheries and Coastal Communities, please do not hesitate to get in touch at karen.adam.msp@parliament.scot