Reduction in UK fishing proposed
has recommended the scrapping of 13 per cent of the 'white fish'
fleet. Critics say this could devastate Scotland's cod fishing
operations and have an adverse knock-on effect on food
manufacturers, writes Anthony Fletcher.
In addition, the report proposes a four-year tie-up of another 30 per cent of the fleet, paid for by the industry itself. This has angered Scottish Fisherman's Federation president Alex Smith, who believes that it is entirely unreasonable to expect the tie-up proposals to be funded by fishermen.
"Asking the industry to tie up their fleet for up to four years is completely unrealistic," he told the UK's Guardian newspaper. "You can't even mothball a vessel for six months - how do you manage it? It's a non-starter."
However, the government believes that a substantial tie-up of boats is vital to reduce pressure on struggling cod stocks. The proposals were launched this week by UK fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw, who called on the industry to work alongside government to make the proposals work.
"We are confident that based on this report, together with the industry, we can manage our way through to a successful, profitable long-term future for the fishing industry in the United Kingdom," he said.
But many in the industry are sceptical that short-term cuts are inevitable in order to secure a stable future for the industry.
For example John Rutherford, chief executive of the Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish), said that it was important that the concern over North Sea cod stocks was put into perspective. He said that the vast majority of cod eaten in the UK is sourced from sustainable global stocks, traded on an international market.
Alex Salmond, Scottish National Party (SNP) leader in Westminster, whose Banff and Buchan constituency takes in the fishing ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh, told BBC Scotland's Politics Show that further restrictions would harm the industry's infrastructure.
"We have already had decommissioning of over half of our white fish fleet in the last three years. If there are any other cuts in the fleet then what happens is not an optimistic future. What you get is a collapse of the infrastructure on which the fleet depends. There is no need for this, it is a spectacular piece of incompetence."
These are difficult times for the UK's fishing industry. The European Commission has opened an inquiry into the recent surge in EU imports of farmed Atlantic salmon into the country, to see if safeguard duties are necessary.
Imports of farmed salmon into the EU increased by 14.7 per cent in January to September 2003, compared to the same period in 2002, and many farming communities claim to have suffered significant losses.
The influx of cheap imports is a major blow to fish farming in Scotland in particular. The Scottish sector is being overtaken by highly automated Norwegian producers, which has helped to turn a food that was once considered a rare delicacy into an every day product.
Norway is the main non- EU competitor to Scotland, accounting for 60 per cent of all salmon imported into the UK.
"The Scottish farmed salmon industry is on its knees, they have been pressing the government to take action to give them a breathing space," a spokesman for the UK's Department of Trade and Industry told the Times.
