We deliberately brought a broad scope to this motion today, because we do feel that there is huge scope to bring benefits to Wales in having a clear, ambitious strategy, properly supported in financial terms, in order to support fisheries and the fishing industry more generally. And the benefits could come in a number of different forms—economic benefits first of all, yes, in terms of generating income, bringing investment and job creation. And Cefin specifically mentioned the potential of aquaculture. The potential to develop terrestrial fish farms is huge. The expertise behind the developments that we heard mentioned in Penmon on Anglesey is expertise that could lead to further developments—fish farming for consumption. They are using fish to clean, which is part of sustainable salmon fishing, but the same expertise could be used to develop fish farming for human consumption too.

I attended a lecture the other evening on the potential of farming a particular type of lobster, and I've learned a great deal this week about that. And the work is happening now to develop the expertise to farm that commercially. But the developers intend to take that expertise to either France or Italy because of a lack of confidence that they would get Welsh Government support. So, is the Minister really willing to allow that expertise to leave Wales, or does she want to see this as being something that we could invest in? And to give you an idea, they published investment that could lead to an industry that could be worth $160 million in Australia—that's on an annual basis—for lobster farming. Do we want that here or do we want to let that slip from our grasp? And, by the way, may I extend an invitation to the Minister to come to Penmon to see the excellent work that's happening there?

There are community benefits too, not only in providing vibrancy in coastal areas and generating jobs in such communities or making the industry more sustainable and helping it to grow, but there is a means here to enhance our marine heritage too, which perhaps isn't as deep-rooted as it is in areas of Cornwall or Scotland, but it is there, and it's important in parts of my constituency. And this is part of the appeal that I, Cefin and others have been calling for in asking for Government support for the catch and release programme for the bluefin tuna recently, something that has been happening in the waters of the rest of these isles, but not in Wales. And we're missing out here, and I don't quite understand why the Government couldn't welcome that as something that would be a valuable environmental step and could also bring benefits to our coastal communities. 

To conclude, we need a strategy, as we've already heard. My constituents, for example, in the mussels sector, have been demanding a strategy for many years. They've been seeking investment and support for the processing of mussels, for example, and that demand for a strategy was strong before we left the European Union and it's now even more important, after their sector was destroyed as a result of Brexit. But a strategy was launched, as we've heard, back at the end of 2016, and a pledge was made, but that came to an end. There were targets—targets set for significant growth in the sector, but, without a strategy that is operational, without creating capacity in the Welsh Government's fisheries division, without clarity on funding—and I think our experience was very poor in how European funds were spent here, by the way—and without real and enthusiastic engagement by the Minister herself, then we won't have a sector left to grow, I fear.