Letters / A failing organisation
Thank you for your article on the North Sea Commission (NSC) meeting at Scalloway’s fishery college (NAFC Marine Centre) at which you report Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) chief Simon Collins criticised the EU fisheries management decision on discard bans (Brussels urged to think again on discards ban; SN, 11/01/16)
Virtually every sentence quoted from Mr Collins describes a failing organisation that is worse than useless – damaging, actually – and which will never change its ways to become effective. For example:
“You don’t just decree something when it’s incompatible with the system you have. The management system has to change to take account of the very, very mixed fisheries we have.”
Absolutely. The mixed fisheries point is basics, not ‘rocket science’.
Whichever species you have quota to catch you will also catch several other species in the same tow. So if, as NSC vice chairman Jonathan Wills observed, you catch your annual quota of hake in one month, you aren’t allowed to fish to fulfil your remaining quota for other species for the next eleven months because you will, unavoidably, catch hake which are abundant.
The EU has been running Shetland’s fisheries since it hi-jacked them in 1970 and if they can’t learn this fundamental fact of fisheries life in 45 years of management they never will.
Mr Collins continued: “Once a net’s in the water you can’t tell a fish not to go in – they’re not that bright.”
Nor, it would seem, are EU fisheries managers!
Dr Wills also spoke of what he imagines would be the “catastrophic” effects of the UK leaving the EU due to Shetland’s “close integration into EU markets in fishing, tourism and agriculture.”
However, Norway and Switzerland are among the wealthiest countries in Europe. They remain, with Iceland, outside the EU but have no difficulty accessing its markets and should the UK leave, it will have similar arrangements i.e. no “catastrophic effects” for Shetland.
Jonathan may be right that “it’s a bankers’ Europe” and he’s certainly right that it’s “not a people’s Europe”. However, while leaving the EU may have some impact at UK level, “loss of influence” will make no difference to Shetland whatsoever because we never had any in the first place.
To crown it all, Shetland has been poorly represented by both UK and Scottish ministers and never more so than in this ongoing discard ban debacle and the recent EU pelagic fishery negotiations with Faroe.
Wir Shetland’s policy is that, as it stands, EU membership is extremely damaging for Shetland, primarily, as a result of the effects of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and its associated fisheries management system.
Autonomous government in association with a larger country would give us local control of our exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including fisheries, by empowering Shetland to leave the EU while retaining access to its markets and would be a major boon to the isles.
Opponents insist Shetlanders are incapable of running their own affairs yet NSC executive secretary Camilla Stavnes, mightily impressed with Shetland’s marine planning, described it as “totally unique in Europe”.
She said: “We don’t have any other example of best practice, regionally. I have never…. heard so efficient dialogue between fishermen and (NAFC) scientists.”
Ms Stavnes reportedly attributed this success largely to the powers devolved to Shetland in Jo Grimond’s ZCC Act, 1974, implicitly drawing attention to the benefits of increased local autonomy.
Wir Shetland believes Shetland should continue to support international co-operation but we should control our own fishing grounds, earning us a “seat at the table” when fishery management discussions are taking place.
Seafood is Shetland’s biggest industry – much bigger than oil and gas – and having demonstrated such effectiveness in the face of bungling incompetence from fishery regulators, is there any reason why that success cannot be built upon and extended into other areas?
As Winston Churchill famously said: “Give us the tools and we will finish the job!”
John Tulloch
Lyndon,
Arrochar
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