I join other members in wishing Roseanna Cunningham well in her new post.

I agree with other speakers about the need for a robust and overarching marine policy that is drawn up in collaboration with the rest of the UK and, indeed, Europe, and is informed by the reform of the common fisheries policy.

At a Scottish level, our policy direction must be informed by the wider EU and UK strategies. However, we must devolve as far as possible the management of the seas to the communities that are dependent on them for their survival.

The consultation is not clear about the interaction and relationship between marine Scotland and the Scottish marine regions.

Organisations that responded to the consultation seemed unsure about the area that the marine regions would cover.

Will they be big enough to allow strategic planning, or will that power be held by local government or marine Scotland?

Are they small enough to ensure that all stakeholders and communities that are dependent on the seas for their livelihoods are involved?

The bill is also about structural planning for renewable energy and so on.

It also has to be about managing the seas, which means that the involvement of our fisheries sector is imperative.

When local communities are involved in the management of the seas, we see benefits with regard to sustainability, as fishermen sign up to conservation initiatives.

They need a strong voice in any management system.

How are the Scottish marine regions to be devised? What geographical area will they cover? Who is involved in their structure? How do communities become involved? How does the industry become involved? What is the role for non-governmental organisations and industrial developers?

Those questions need to be answered if people are to be able to respond more fully.

I heard the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment say that he will listen to people's thoughts on those matters before coming to a final decision, but I also ask that that final decision be consulted on.

Colleagues have talked about the proposed structure of marine Scotland in detail.

It is unfortunate that a decision has been made before any parliamentary scrutiny.

Will the structure of marine Scotland be set out in the bill and will it be possible to amend it at that stage? I hope so.

The approach is more about political expediency than it is about what is good for our marine environment.

For years, work has taken place between Fisheries Research Services and fishermen.

Bringing them together has been a long and tortuous process, but it is bearing fruit.

However, the new structure will tear apart that fragile relationship and undo the good practice that has been developed.

Placing Fisheries Research Services and the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency together in one organisation will immediately breed concern, because of the enforcement aspects of the protection agency.

I am not an apologist for anyone who has anything to hide from the agency, but I am realistic. Good research is based on an open and transparent flow of information.

Putting the organisations together will ensure that the relationship between fishermen and scientists is no longer open and transparent.

Which one of us, when driving along observing the highway code, does not feel uncomfortable when a police car draws up behind us and follows us down the road?

Every fishing crew that works with fishery researchers on board will feel the same discomfort, because those researchers will be part of the enforcement agency.

We will lose the joint working that has had a real impact on our fisheries science and research. The proposals are unnecessary and damaging, and they bring nothing to the table but political dogma.

In Prospect's response to the consultation, it states:

"the merger of regulation and research could impact upon FRS's ability to collect fisheries data."

Prospect goes further and states that the loss of FRS's independence will be damaging, pointing out that it is a respected international centre for independent marine science and advice and that

"There is a real danger that FRS will lose its reputation for independent scientific advice if it becomes too close to its customer the Marine Directorate."

This week, the cabinet secretary has set up a quota management system that is more about constitutional wrangling than it is about the industry's needs.

It is centralising rather than devolving, and it is creating a bureaucracy that will wrap our fishing communities in red tape rather than supporting the industry.

In the proposed bill, political ideology again comes ahead of the needs of the communities that we serve.

The minister must change the balance and put our communities before that dogma.