Pete Bevington

11 March, 2009

SHETLAND fishermen are calling on the Scottish government to go back to Brussels and renegotiate the cod recovery plan, which they call “perverse”, saying it will force boats out of business and increase pressure on cod stocks.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Scottish fishing secretary Richard Lochhead opened a two month consultation for fishermen to tell him how this year’s ‘days at sea’ should be allocated.

However Hansen Black, chief executive of Shetland Fishermen’s Association, said the current deal cut in Brussels last December will inevitably hit boats hard, however ‘days’ are shared out.

“The reality for the white fish fleet is that the pot is smaller than last year by around 15 per cent and that’s going to cause us a great deal of difficulty,” Mr Black said.

Fishermen are worried that larger boats chasing high value species like monkfish and megrim on a two crew system will have to downsize. This could force them to abandon those non-shoaling species in favour of a mixed white fishery, catching more haddock and cod.

“That would be a perverse outcome of the cod recovery plan,” Mr Black said. “The full implications of the new plan are just starting to be realised and it’s causing a great deal of angst and worry and anger.

“Some boats feel that fishing opportunities are being eroded away to a level that businesses can’t survive. More than likely there will be jobs lost through this, and these will be local guys, most of them shareholders.”

About one third of Shetland’s 25 strong fleet catches megrim and monkfish. They require the most days at sea due to the nature of the fishery and are likely to lose out under any ‘days at sea’ deal.

Mr Black said the fleet had played their part in the recovery plan and seen the results in healthy cod stocks in the northern North Sea.

He said: “We are clearly going in the right direction, Fish stocks are healthy and stable, but the speed that’s being required is too fast to be achieved. It’s going to be counterproductive and it will certainly not save cod.

“Putting people out of work in these economically difficult times, and reducing our exports of sea food in times when we need all the economic wealth we can generate, seems a bit misguided.

“The government say their hands are tied, but they are the only people who can go back and renegotiate the terms of the CRP. We will certainly be asking the government to go back to Brussels and look at renegotiating the terms of the CRP and be very robust about it.

“This is a step too far that’s going to achieve nothing in terms of cod mortality and will certainly negatively impact on the Shetland fleet and the Shetland economy.”

The irony is that the Shetland white fish fleet is healthier than for the past 20 years, with record landings in Lerwick and Scalloway and three new boats joining the fleet recently.

The government says they have achieved a much better deal than was initially on the table in Brussels.

Writing in the Fishing News this week, Mr Lochhead says: “The key now is for the industry and the Scottish government to continue to work together to overcome these challenges.”