Thursday, 11th November 2010
Fresh “body blow” to Scottish fishermen
Latest Total Allowable Catch (TAC) quotas unveiled by the European Commission show Scots fishermen face swingeing cuts in 2011.
Key species which form the bulk of the Scottish catch face drastic reductions including prawns (down 9 per cent in North Sea and 15 per cent off the West Coast of Scotland), while West Coast haddock and cod face cuts of 25 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
The situation is less clear for stocks shared with Norway – such as North Sea cod and haddock – which will be decided at a later date.
Responding, Struan Stevenson MEP, who is senior vice president of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, said:
“This latest round of quotas is a body blow to Scottish fishermen, particularly on the West Coast.
“While I absolutely agree with the Commissioner that we must be guided by science, scientists can only ever provide advice to politicians. The politicians have to take the final decisions, taking into account socio-economic factors as well.
“The Common Fisheries Policy has all but strangled Scotland’s once-proud fishing industry.
“It has encouraged overexploitation and waste on a colossal scale. A million tonnes of perfectly good but over-quota fish is dumped dead into the sea annually.
“Commissioner Damanaki must reform the unwieldy and counterproductive CFP – before Scotland’s fishing industry is totally wiped out.”
