THE Scottish Fishermen’s Federation is calling on the Scottish government to turn rhetoric into substance as fishing minister Richard Lochhead is heading to Brussels for another round of talks on the wasteful practise of discards.
Over the weekend, SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong spoke of his frustration with the over-simplistic measures applied to reduce discards.
He told the Scottish government to take heed of the industry’s aspirations for a mixed fishery and warned that an election was just around the corner.
Praising campaigning chef High Fearnley-Whittingstall for his Fish-Fight TV coverage (
www.fishfight.net), Mr Armstrong said there could not now be a single person in the UK who did not know that the rules governing fisheries were the cause of discarding.
“We are listening with great frustration to the discard problem being described in ever more strident terms, followed only by a single proposal for a defective and overly simple fix.
“There is no magic wand solution to this complex and many faceted problem. The time for dramatic rhetoric is over. We need, right now, to soberly address the faults in the present system with a view to changing it rather than just complaining about it.
“The SFF will produce over the next few weeks a fishing manifesto on what the aspirations of the next Scottish Government should be. On discards, a big part of that will be a practical plan to deal with the problems of mixed fisheries. Politicians hoping for fisheries votes, take note.”
Meanwhile, Mr Lochhead has called for discards to be added to the agenda of fisheries council meeting on 24 January.
“Scotland has long led the way in speaking out loudest in Europe against the broken EU rules which result in our fishermen having to discard marketable fish, dead, back into the sea.
“Thanks to our ongoing efforts to tackle the issue, and the recent activity of campaigning celebrity chefs bringing emotive images to our TV screens, there is a groundswell of public opinion looking for urgent action from Europe to allow skippers to land more of what they catch.
“I am determined that we should build on this momentum and continue to push the European Commission, at every opportunity, to take the issue of discarding more seriously and to work with countries like Scotland in expanding innovative practices that reduce discards and improve fishing methods that help fishermen avoid what they don’t want to catch,” the minister said.
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