Conservation

Scotland’s Parliament has provided a forum we did not have previously for fishing. In previous crises during the ‘Westminster’ years’, it barely hit the headlines because of the lack of interest and lack of understanding down there.

In Scotland, there is the interest. More doubtful is whether there is an adequate understanding.

Debating the rules which keep our fishermen in port most of the time, the Parliament’s Environment and Rural Development Committee saw a most bizarre spectacle – the Greens supporting one of the most anti-conservation measures ever to affect our industry.

With the haddock permit scheme which the EU and the Scottish government want, we have fishermen having to discard dead cod when they are fishing for haddocks and throwing away haddocks caught when they are after cod – in both instances despite having quota which permits them to catch and land these fish.

So the effect of the new rules, supported by Labour, Liberal and the Greens, is to INCREASE the quantity of dead fish thrown back.

But if the lack of understanding of that were not enough – it is complex and buried in the interaction of various regulations but forcibly expressed in briefings to MSPs – what was unacceptable was these same people refusing to allow industry members time to appear before their committee.

To do so would not necessarily have delayed the progress of measures on the table, but would have certainly left MSPs with a better understanding of the anti-conservation effects of the new rules.

Because fishermen have a vital interest in ensuring that there will be fish in the sea for their sons and grandsons.

The good working relationship established between WWF – a leading conservation body – and fishermen shows that our industry has nothing to fear and everything to gain from working with the pro-conservation lobby.

What we now need is some preparedness among Green politicians to listen up.

Making Friends

I am sitting here with a new friend at my elbow. With a rather whimsical smile on his face, he is called Buchan.

While his conversation is rather limited, he has prompted a number of strangers to engage his attention on my journey to Parliament this morning.

Because this small bear, a native of Peterhead, is an appealing sophisticate.
I visited Glendaveny Teddy Bears in Peterhead a few weeks ago and they effected my introduction to Buchan.

But we are hoping that Buchan has a star-filled future ahead of him.

We may just be within sight of the finishing post for the construction of the new Parliament building. Much to my continuing frustration, the final cost will probably not be known for some time afterwards.

And completion means an opening ceremony. Not an expensive one but a high-powered one. The monarch is probably coming sometime in October to cut the ribbon.

A quality product, produced for the opening and on sale to the 600 to 700 thousand visitors should fly off the shelf of our Parliament’s shop. A numbered series of Buchan’s brothers would be much better than ‘tourist tat’ and a useful contribution to Glendaveny’s income.

So we will see if we ‘cut a deal’ with our shop.

Healthy living

It seems a very long time ago that the National Health Service was established. Approaching sixty years in fact.

And some of the original structures and agreements are still in place.

More recently, the previous government – obsessed as ever by market-driven reform – introduced a system of trusts and an ‘internal market’. Predictably that was complicated, expensive and distracting from patient needs.

Much of that has been dismantled. The new NHS Reform Bill going through Parliament takes what are probably the final steps in putting a 21st century structure in place.

Health board boundaries aligned with Council ones – a bigger role for the public – greater involvement of staff. Or so Ministers claim.

There is clearly more work to be done. In particular the Scottish government, the Scottish Executive, seems to believe that all this can be done without any new money.

The Parliament’s Finance Committee begs to differ. And the initial debate which we had this week on the government’s proposals confirmed that start-up costs for many of the changes had not been considered worthy of funding.

For my part, I will be supporting moves from Bill Butler, a government back-bencher, to have Health Boards elected. That would be an excellent way of ensuring that there is a direct path of accountability back to the public whose health service it is.

Challenges

Our Parliamentary team has completed its ordeal on TV’s University Challenge. The Welsh Assembly proved worthy opponents and Jeremy Paxman congratulated both teams on being better than “a totally useless Westminster team last year”.

I cannot tell you who won! You need to watch when it is broadcast.