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Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead will enforce less rigid restrictions. (Photo: EC/Scottish Government)
EUR 14 million go to future of Scottish fleet
UNITED KINGDOM
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 00:50 (GMT + 9)
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead has introduced a 'Four Pillar' fisheries management plan meant to protect the Scottish fishing industry’s future.
More than GBP 12 million (EUR 14.4 million) have been invested for the plan, part of which represnts funding for a licence parking programme and fleet modernisation. The Scottish Government has secured support from the European Fisheries Fund to more than double the GBP 6 million (EUR 7.2 million) domestic investment available.
The plan contains measures to ride out the economic recession, organise prosperity for the fishing industry’s future and endorse Scottish priorities in Europe.
"Our plan will help steer the industry through both the short term and longer term challenges and into hopefully more profitable and calmer waters,” Lochhead said while presenting the final plan in Edinburgh to the Scottish Fisheries Council (SFC).
He said the innovative actions being taken in Scotland will help the fleet lower costs and safeguard stocks by maximising the value of the catch.
"Most importantly the current review of European fisheries policy provides the opportunity to put the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) behind us and put in place measures more suited to Scottish circumstances,” he continued.
Lochhead assured that the industry and other stakeholders have had an important role in the creation of the plan and will thus be fundamental for its successful execution.
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The plan’s four pillars are meant to:
• develop the wider international framework for fisheries management
• manage Scotland's fishing quota and effort allocations to endorse sustainability and profitability
• work with the industry to maximise catch value
• ensure Scotland has a resilient fleet crewed by a capable workforce
"Our Four Pillar Plan […] contains actions that focus on changing the regime. Less rigid effort restrictions, increased scope for catch quotas and the return of decision making to Member States as part of the CFP reform are important priorities for Scotland,” Lochhead added.
The SFC will toil to reach a shared understanding of the issues facing the government, fishermen and NGOs to work in a coordinated and industrious manner, he concluded.
Meanwhile, Lochhead is visiting the west coast in response to fishers’ rising anger regarding “emergency” measures put in place since early 2009. Twenty months later, the allegedly temporary measures are still suffocating the fishing industry, reports The Press & Journal.
They were initially applied for one year to help guard cod, haddock and whiting, but were rolled over in November for another 18 months after talks on broader conservation measures failed.
No solution is near even though the European Commission (EC) was supposed to review the situation in the first half of this year.
Related articles:
- Scottish call for freeze on further days-at-sea reductions
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
Photo Courtesy of FIS Member  European Commission - Fisheries and Maritime Affairs
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