Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Scotland’s fishing industry faces a battle for survival
SCOTLAND’S FISHING INDUSTRY FACES A BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
Under the Common Fisheries Policy CFP, Brussels has imposed a ludicrously complex system of TACs (Total Allowable Catches), quotas and effort limitation, or restrictions on the number of days a fisherman can go to sea. Added to this is a welter of technical measures, mesh sizes, gear restrictions, and even kilowatt days – which measures the output of a boat’s engine and limits the number of days a fisherman can operate. This bureaucratic obsession with micro-management has driven the industry to despair and yet, at the same time, it has done little to resolve the problem of diminishing fish stocks. On the contrary, the appalling problem of discards is a direct by-product of the current top-down system of management imposed by Brussels. Discarding fish has been forced upon our fishermen by the CFP. If a fisherman attempts to land an undersized or out of quota fish, he will be prosecuted and end up with a criminal conviction and a hefty fine. Rather than face criminal charges, our fishermen have no alternative other than to dump these fish dead, over the side. An estimated 800,000 tonnes of fish are discarded in this way every year in the EU, many of them in the North Sea.
Much of this problem can be traced to the way in which we operate our current system of fisheries management. As well as being the primary cause of discards, this mishmash of controls, introduced mainly to aid cod recovery in the North Sea, has failed to stop a decline in cod stocks and in addition, has led to over 60% of the UK whitefish fleet being scrapped in the past 10 years. Reform is urgently needed and now we have a chance to put things right. We have a new Commissioner in Maria Damanaki, a new Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament and a clear determination to put a stop to Brussels micro-management and devolve much more management responsibility to the stakeholders.
The problem is, how can we do this without violating the Treaty under which the CFP was created? If there is the slightest suspicion that we are attempting to re-nationalise control of fisheries to the Member States, the Commission and the Council of Ministers will throw the proposals out of the window. I believe that a much better system of management would be to do away with TACs and quotas and rely solely on a 'days at sea' policy, where fishermen could land everything they catch in the days each month they are allowed to fish. Current quotas which fishermen have purchased would be legally transferred into an entitlement to days at sea. Traditional fishing rights would be preserved. This management system would reverse the current policy on discards. Instead of being compelled to dump fish over the side, fishermen would be compelled to land everything. It would become an offence to discard fish.
The problem is that the European Commission is considering the introduction of a system of International Transferable Rights (ITRs) for managing Europe’s fisheries. With a consequent threat to relative stability and the grim prospect of Scotland’s waters being opened up further to foreign fishing vessels. Under such a system, rich fisheries companies, most of which are located in Spain, would be able to buy up quotas or other fishing rights from any fishermen in the EU. Wealthy Spanish companies would undoubtedly find willing sellers amongst Scottish skippers in the North Sea, who are struggling to make ends meet.
The European Commission regard this as the easy option for reducing EU fleet capacity without them having to pay a single Euro in compensation. Market forces would see the big, modern Spanish fleet taking over most of the fishing rights in the North Sea, driving the remaining Scottish whitefish vessels to the breaker’s yard. Guarantees that legal ownership of fishing rights would revert to Scotland after say ten years would be meaningless, because after ten years there would be no Scottish fleet left. Worse still, the Spanish boats would land their catches back in Vigo, sending busy ports like Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Lerwick into a spiral of decline.
Scotland would be a big loser from ITRs and it is important that they find allies amongst the other EU Member States to fight against such proposals. Unfortunately, the UK Fisheries Minister is a keen supporter of ITRs, despite the fact that the majority of whitefish landings and the main part of the UK whitefish fleet are based in Scotland. The battle-lines are being drawn between London and Edinburgh and the outcome of the general election may have a decisive impact on the future of Scotland’s fisheries sector.
