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In 2018 weak voluntary management measures for wrasse were introduced by the Scottish Government in agreement (only!) with the fish farming industry. We need your help to sort this out. 
No areas were closed, no effort limits were imposed, the open season included the breeding season, there was no mandatory vessel monitoring; and so on. If you're curious, the agreement is here. https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00535142.pdf
Essentially nothing had been learnt from measures elsewhere in UK waters, and there was not even a stock assessment before opening the fishery. https://www.planetseafishing.com/devon-and-severn-ifca-introduce-wrasse-protection-measures/
Since then SIFT and others have been pressing the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland to do better; wrasse play a key biological (and economic!) role in our inshore ecosystems.
Over the last year this pressure led first to an internal review, and then that quickly became a public consultation. But look how limited the questions are.
https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/wild-wrasse-harvesting/
https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/wild-wrasse-harvesting/
The consultation is, sadly, a token effort to get the answers that suit Marine Scotland and the industry they serve. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-51833698
No space to say marine protected areas should be closed to fishing. No space to propose a better closed season. Only optional vessel monitoring. Yes/no questions with the wrong options. Only one tangential open question.
Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems have registered their objections to the consultation. https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5M-21350&ResultsPerPage=10
We have formally challenged this consultation, but we do not know if that will work. In the mean time there are two ways you can help protect our inshore waters.
First, you can still fill in the flawed consultation above. It’s open until 10th May. We've done a wee guide here. https://www.sift-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Wrasse-Consultation-Guidance-SIFT.pdf
Second, Marine Scotland have agreed to accept open responses by email. So you can also just let them know what you think directly: [email protected]
We can’t rely on this botched consultation being fixed. So please do fill the form in, much as we hope it will be ditched and done again properly, with some sensible interim measures.
Oh, and if you have time you could also write to your constituency and list MSPs and tell them why you’d be grateful if they would sign that motion. https://www.writetothem.com/
Here's the motion in case it got lost in the thread above. https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5M-21350&ResultsPerPage=10
