Hans J Marter

17 October 2009

EUROPEAN proposals for hefty cuts in the amount of cod fishermen can catch next year will have none or very little impact on the Shetland whitefish fleet.

Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) said yesterday (Friday) that the local whitefish quotas were mainly decided during the EU-Norway talks to take place prior to the end of the year fisheries council.

The proposals for cod are a 17 per cent increase, while haddock and whiting quotas are likely to be cut by as much as 15 per cent.

The proposal for the valuable species of monkfish and megrim are for a continuation of this year’s quota, but the SFA said it would make the case for an increase.

But there will be a further squeeze on the time fishermen have to catch their allocated quota.

Yesterday, The European Commission said “things took a turn for the worse” for cod last year when more of the species was caught in the North Sea than in any other year in the past decade. The EC also proposed a cut in cod for the West of Scotland.

SFA chief executive Hansen Black said: “The quotas that will affect the local fleet will be debated at a couple of rounds of EU-Norway talks, which starts off in November and finishes at some time in December.”

Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said the EC proposals will have a severe impact on some sectors of the Scottish fleet.

He said: "Whilst many of the cuts proposed are very severe, particularly on the west coast, what the figures do not reveal is the composite effect on commercial viability of those cuts and the significant effort control (days-at-sea) cuts proposed for next year that form part of the cod recovery plan and which will of course seriously effect boats abilities to fish for other species also.

"Never before has it been more imperative for the Scottish industry and government to work together in partnership to reduce by as much as possible the scope, severity and speed of implementation of these measures.

“We have played a leading role in meeting the management aim of sustainable fishing; we must fight to still be here to harvest the benefits,” he said.