Welsh King Scallop Advisory Group meeting: 25 January 2024

Kenneth Bodles (KB) - Head of Fisheries, Marine Conservation Society (MCS)
Christopher Chamber (CC) - fisher
Jim Evans (JE) - Welsh Fisherman’s Association (WFA) 
John Gorman (JG) - fisher
Natalie Hold (NH) - Bangor University
Liam Evans (LE) - fisher
Mark Roberts (MR) - fisher
Alex Scorey (AS) - Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

Welsh Government (WG) attendees: 

Julian Bray (JB) (Chair) - Head of Domestic Fisheries Policy & Management
Michelle Billing (MB) - Fisheries Policy Manager
Alun Mortimer (AM) - Fisheries Policy Manager 
Bekah Cioffi (BC) - Head of Fisheries & Aquaculture Science Tim Croucher (TC) - Head of Shore-based Fisheries Operations

Apologies:

Ella Brock - Seafish
Brett Garner - Llŷn Fisherman’s Association 

JB welcomed everyone to the group. 

Group introductions, purpose of the meeting and ground rules were covered.

AM presented the draft overview paper and led a discussion on the direction and priorities it sets out. 

Points discussed were the current position on stock assessment and MSY/proxy and resources. 

JB reiterated that officials would work as closely and collaboratively with the group as possible. A definition of “co-production” or “co-management” often arises with stakeholder meetings. Because the Minister is the decision maker and the Welsh Government will be delivering any fisheries management changes, technically the nature of the collaboration is closer to “co-design”. 

Officials will be as transparent as possible with the group but there will be times when officials receive information it is not appropriate to share with the group or publicly (legal advice was given as an example). 

AM led a discussion on the draft ToR and the following actions were agreed:  

ACTION 1: Purpose of the Group 1.1 – Change ‘fishery in Wales’ to ‘fishery in Welsh zone’.

ACTION 2: Joint FMP – Add line on collaborating with Defra on joint activities.

ACTION 3: Membership – List member names and organisation. Discussion regarding sharing email addresses to facilitate group discussion outside meetings. Proposed wording added.

ACTION 4: Deputies – Add line allowing deputies to be nominated as necessary.

Points discussed were the need for a timeline and/or detailed delivery plan of the agreed priorities and whether new legislation could come in before December 2029.

No AOB items were raised. 

Actions

1. In Purpose of the Group 1.1 change ‘fishery in Wales to ‘fishery in the Welsh zone’ (AM) 21/02/24
2. Joint FMP – add line on collaborating with Defra on joint activities (AM)  21/02/24
3. Membership in Wales – List member names and organisation. Add line on sharing email addresses (AM) 21/02/24
4. Deputies – Add line allowing deputies to be nominated as necessary (AM) 21/02/24