The national marine plan is the culmination of a great deal of consultation and collaboration over a number of years, and I think that reflects the importance of our seas both in terms of the number and the range of interests, industries, that they support, and also the national sense of self that is appreciated by anybody who has lived near or alongside a coastal community. So, I do welcome the first national plan to manage and to develop our seas in a sustainable and far-sighted way. 

I want to pick up on the approach to fisheries and habitats. The relevant policies recognise the importance of sustainable capture and the need to sustain fish life cycles and also the ecosystem upon which they depend. We all know that the vast majority—and it's around 90 per cent of our fishing fleet—is made up of smaller vessels that mostly stay inshore. And they mostly use static gear like pots and traps, and do not tend to fish for species that have been allocated a quota. So, for example, they look for shellfish. Now, currently, pot numbers—and you won't be surprised that I'm mentioning this—are not capped but, going forward, Minister, will you continue to consult the marine stakeholders and assess and evaluate the case for quotas on pots and limits on catch, depending on the changing health of those shellfish stocks? 

And again, working with the fishing industry, will you consider the merits of tagging pots and moving to the use of biodegradable materials, as we are now acutely aware these days of what plastic pollution does to the sea? That is particularly created by lost pots and fishing tackle, and it does do significant harm. The other form of harm, of course, by untagged pots and not keeping check of them, is the danger and the threat that they pose by ghost fishing. And I'm sure you know that all the people who are engaged currently in fishing, in that particular type of fishing, would be really receptive to doing these things, because many of them already are doing them.