1. Will the Minister make a statement on how much financial compensation has been provided to Welsh fishermen over the last five years under the European maritime and fisheries fund for replacement fishing pots? OAQ53661

Thank you. The European maritime and fisheries fund does not provide financial compensation. Under article 38 of the fund, fishers are able to apply for grants for small-scale investment in selective gear, including fishing pots. Only a small number of applications have been received to date. These are awaiting final approval.  

Okay. I thank you for that answer. But 90 per cent of fisheries in Wales are pots and, like all other forms of fishing gear, fishing pots can get lost at sea and they can continue to catch target and non-target species without any hope of being recovered, which is known as ghost fishing. Most fishing pots are currently made with plastic twine, and it's not biodegradable and it stays in the sea for thousands of years. Also, the majority of pots don't have escape hatches that would enable the catch to escape after a certain time if that pot was lost, and when fishing pots are reported as lost, my understanding is that the fishermen can apply for compensation.

Minister, would you consider implementing a condition that replacement pots that are paid for out of either Welsh Government or public fund money are both made from biodegradable material and that they have escape hatches so they have a lower impact on the marine ecosystem, and also consider introducing a tagging system that can enable the retrieval of those lost pots? 

As I said in my opening answer to you, we don't provide financial compensation from the fund, but we did set up a shellfish pot replacement grant back in 2013-14 after those winter storms. That was set up by Welsh Government to support fishermen to replace equipment that had been lost. No pots have been purchased under the EMF at present. Appropriate checks will be put in place to confirm the suitability of any replacements, but I think there has to be a focus on escape hatches. I think that's really important, and certainly we can look at other sustainability measures, rather than the material used in the construction of the gear. But obviously we've just gone out to consultation on 'Brexit and our seas', and I think this is something that we could look at in a future fisheries policy. 

I'm sure the Minister would agree with me it's important that financial support available for the Welsh fishing industry actually reaches Welsh fishermen. It's therefore crucial that any organisations that receive Welsh Government funding on behalf of the Welsh fishing industry, now or in the future, are transparent and clear in the way that they spend funds. In the circumstances, could the Minister tell us what measures she has put in place to ensure that taxpayers' money given to organisations is absolutely transparent? And can she tell us how does her department go about ensuring due diligence when funds are made available to such organisations? 

All funding in the way that you suggest is absolutely transparent, and I know that you have written to me about the Welsh Fishermen's Association in particular. I can certainly assure you that all the funding is transparent. The WFA are completely compliant with all the monitoring issues. I absolutely refute what was put on Twitter not long ago and I'm taking action around those allegations. There is very, very robust monitoring that takes place, and you only have to go to Companies House to see that all the information is there.