News / Minister to be quizzed on discard ban
The Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth, in Cornwall, will visit the NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway, tour the Lerwick waterfront and has also been booked to visit a whitefish boat to learn about mixed fisheries.
Speaking ahead of the visit, the chief officer of the Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) Simon Collins said the association had two burning issues to discuss with the minister.
He said the ban on discards, which is being phased in for demersal fisheries between 2016 and 2019, would make many whitefish boats unviable if introduced in a strict manner.
As of 2016, a whitefish boat has to stop fishing once one it has exhausted its quota for just one of the main local species: cod, saithe, haddock or whiting.
Collins said: “This is what causes the industry so much alarm. When you exhaust one quota you have to stop fishing even if you have lots of other quotas left for other species.
“The situation up until now is that you have to discard what you have exhausted your quota for, so that you can carry on fishing,” he said.
The industry now wants assurances of pragmatism and flexibility from the government to allow Shetland’s demersal fleet to continue fishing one of the richest fishing grounds in Europe.
Collins said: “There is a degree of flexibility in the regulation. We are looking for an assurance from the minister that Defra will be as pragmatic as possible and as flexible as possible, so that the discard ban is still respected but workable for the industry here.”
He added that the discard ban would work well in a situation where stocks were stable and only one or two species were caught.
However, local whitefish men catch a multitude of species and are witnessing one of the strongest stock recoveries ever: cod stocks have doubled over the last four years.
Fishermen also want to vent their anger on the recent mackerel deal with Norway and the Faroe islands in which Iceland didn’t participate.
They have publicly voiced their frustration with the settlement which they say has stripped the UK, mainly Shetland, of EU quota and handed it to the Faroese.
Looking ahead to the 2015 settlement, Collins said the industry wanted input to prevent a bad situation becoming worse.
Speaking ahead of his visit, the minister said in a brief statement: “I’m delighted to be meeting Shetland fishermen, who make a great contribution to the local community and wider Scottish and UK economy.
“The UK government has fought for their interests at the highest level in Europe, pushing for more regionalised decision making and for harmful fishing policies such as automatic reductions in days at sea and North Sea cod quotas to be stopped and reviewed.
“I will continue working with Shetlanders and fishing communities across the rest of the country to ensure that the reformed Common Fisheries Policy gives them the best deal possible.”
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