19 December, 2008

Hans J Marter

THREE fishing leaders from Shetland are anxiously watching proceedings as the annual fish talks in Brussels head into their final round.

A final settlement on next years TACs (total allowable catches) and quotas is expected some time today (Friday), with the biggest stumbling point remaining the proposal to effectively close down the fishing industry at Scotland's west coast.

Shetland's whitefish industry fears an influx of west coast vessels into the North Sea should the European Commission push its proposal through.

The Scottish government and the country's whitefish industry is united in rejecting the EC's ideas. A first compromise deal, tabled earlier yesterday, was rejected.

Speaking from Brussels, Shetland Fishermen's Association (SFA) chairman Leslie Tait said vessels would move from the west coast to the North Sea to make up for their losses.

"You can only put as much pressure on the stocks as you have quota, but what it means is sharing less with more," he said.

Mr Tait is joined by the association's chief executive Hansen Black as well as council vice convener and former SFA chairman Josie Simpson.

The EC wants a zero catch of cod, haddock and whiting, and separator grids for the big west coast prawns fleet, a measure deemed unworkable by the industry.

Scottish Fishermen's Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said the industry was not disputing that cod, haddock and whiting off the west coast needed action to ensure recovery.

"But the current EC compromise will not achieve that aim and will also be unviable for the fleet,” Mr Armstrong said.

"It is a top level objective of Scottish fishermen and the UK governments to replace the Commission's proposals with our own spatial and selectivity measures, which will enable the fleet to keep fishing, whilst at the same time protect key whitefish stocks."

Scottish fishing minister Richard Lochhead added: "The closure of west coast fishing grounds proposed by the Commission would devastate communities from Campbeltown to Stornoway.

"At any time these proposals would be difficult to accept, but in the current climate they would be an economic and social bombshell. West coast fish stocks are worth around £85 million to the Scottish economy and they also support many other businesses."

Mr Tait said that the Shetland association was also concerned about further cuts on whiting and also proposals to cut the days at sea by a further six per cent.

Monkfish quotas look like a roll over from last year, as does megrim. There may also be a reduction of quotas for "lesser species" such as ling and tusk "for no real reasons", he said.