Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 14 September 2016.
Thank you. Many people are awaiting this decision on both sides of the argument, as it were. May I just place on record that I have met with petitioners, although some people think that I haven’t, but that you, as Minister, haven’t met with those petitioners? I think that is the case. Are you now willing, now that the consultation is over, to meet those petitioners who want a ban on scallop fishing in Cardigan bay, to see what their arguments are? Do you think that the problem that we have here in finding solutions to complex issues stems from the fact that the Government doesn’t yet have a national marine plan and, therefore, we don’t yet have the tools to tackle the problems that emerge when people disagree on the best way to maintain habitats and maintain fishing too?