Hans J Marter

19 December 2007

SCOTTISH fishing leaders said this morning (Wednesday) they were reasonably happy with the fishing deal reached at the European Fisheries Council, in Brussels, in the early hours of this morning.

However Scottish fishing minister Richard Lochhead was more upbeat, calling it a "historic agreement" which recognised Scotland's efforts to find innovative ways of conserving fish and reducing discards.

Next year's quotas for most of the species fished by the Shetland fleet had already been set in advance of the talks, with days at sea remaining the crunching point.

Speaking from Brussels this morning, Shetland Fishermen's Association chairman Leslie Tait said the deal was "not too bad, but obviously could have been better."

He said: "The haddock is cut by 12 per cent, whiting by 17 per cent, cod increased by 11 per cent, megrim has an eight per cent increase, and west coast herring a 20 per cent decrease.

"On effort control there is a new management scheme coming which is called Conservation Credits, which is an initiative for Scotland that recognises real time closure and other voluntary measures Scotland introduced in 2007.

"This will be rewarded with something that hopefully will help with effort control."

Boats that have signed up to the admin penalties derogation will still be allowed 175 days at sea, but there will be a six per cent cut for those who have not.

Emerging from the talks this morning, Scottish fishing minister Richard Lochhead told waiting industry leaders that Scotland had reached a landmark agreement, having had the country's voluntary conservation measures acknowledged by the EC.

Conservation Credits, the minister said, would give vessels flexibility if they adopt conservation measures introduced voluntarily by the Scottish fleet during 2007.

"This groundbreaking initiative has been made possible thanks to a historic agreement with the European Commission which will, for the first time, give Scotland flexibility over how fishing days are allocated to its fleet. Previously, the management of days at sea were decided in Brussels.

"Europe's go-ahead to develop Conservation Credits recognises and rewards the responsible leadership our industry has shown in implementing innovative measures to reduce discards and protect juvenile stocks.

"My aim is to have a new system up and running by the start of February and I will work closely with the industry in the month ahead.

"Our Conservation Credits will potentially enable Scottish fishermen to fish the same number of days next year as this year as part of a set of Scottish arrangements. Scotland has blazed a trail for the whole of Europe by adopting sustainable fishing practices," the minister said.

The finer details of next year's fishing management agreement are not known yet, but the main parts are:

- allowing Scotland to flexibly allocate days at sea to the Scottish fleet as it feels appropriate;
- the go-ahead to develop a new system of Conservation Credits, aimed to be in place by 1 February 2008;
- the option to bring forward a Discards Reduction Plan based on measures to reduce cod discards and to gain additional fishing opportunities;
- headline cut of days at sea of 10 per cent for the prawn fleet;
- headline white fish fleet cuts of 10 per cent on the west coast and 6 percent in the North Sea;
- the above cuts affect only a minority of Scottish vessels.