A new voice in Europe

SHETLAND Fishermen’s Association has added a new policy advisor to its ranks.

Maria Aira Martin, who originally hails from Galicia in Spain, will be tasked with promoting Shetland’s fishing industry in Europe.

The former trainee fisheries official with the European Council of Ministers will also help to project the industry’s voice in parliament in Scotland, the UK and Europe.

“I know from my time working in the fishing industry in Spain just how important it is for the economy,” Martin said.

“But there’s something that goes beyond the facts and figures. I feel it is also part of the identity of the community and that has been confirmed in the short time I have been in Shetland.

“The industry here has a responsible approach to sustainability, there are fantastic quality stocks and everybody works well together.

“But it faces significant challenges, like the discard ban, and dealing with that and the different layers Shetland has to deal with – Scotland, the UK and the EU – convinced me to move here to try to do something meaningful.”

SFA executive officer Simon Collins said Martin’s appointment will see Shetland’s fishing industry’s “arguments put across better” in Brussels.

“Having someone who’s got an insight into how things actually works makes all the difference,” he said.

“The industry has traditionally been quite old fashioned and slow to move with the times, and one of the big changes in the last twenty years is the shift in power from national governments to Brussels.”