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SCOTTISH fishing leaders and politicians broadly welcomed the proposals outlined by Joe Borg in his speech to the European Parliament Fisheries Committee yesterday however they also cautioned that more details would be required.
Mike Park, executive chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association said: " The Commissioner’s mention of managing fisheries by effort is to some degree a response to Member States intransigence to accept the principal of Individual Transferrable Quotas (ITQ's) in its fullest form as part of the CFP reform process. It is quite an ambitious and revolutionary step which I'm sure would be accompanied by many complexities. Given the current issues attached to managing mixed species with single species quotas it is lateral thinking, such as this, which may just deliver a better system of managing our fisheries.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, commenting on Borg’s suggestion that annual catch limits (quotas) should be scrapped and replaced with an annual allowance of ‘days-at-sea’, said: “If the Fisheries Commissioner is genuinely suggesting that catch limits should be scrapped, then he would probably be killed in the rush at the quayside to accept the offer.
“But I am equally sure that if radical simplification is being offered, then scrapping of days at sea would be the first choice at the same quayside. Every fisherman will agree that there must be an enforced limit to what can be taken from the sea – nobody wants to see overfishing and the consequent downward spiral of commercial suicide. However, the consequences of using days at sea as the only control measure will require a great deal more thought. It is at best unpredictable and may, for some fisheries create more problems than it solves.
“Simplification of the present ridiculously detailed body of legislation covering fishing (some 800 separate pieces of legislation and regulation) is desperately needed; headline-grabbing simple solutions to inescapably complicated problems may not provide the correct answer. Nevertheless, it is an encouragement that the Commissioner is prepared to be truly radical and look at all options. We will, therefore, be asking him as a matter of urgency for more detail on what he is actually proposing.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Fisheries spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “We need more details about how the Commission’s plans to scrap the traditional quotas would work. At the very least we need to know how the EU will safeguard historic track records and allocations. There are Member States who have long advocated the abandonment of so-called relative stability.
“It is hard to see how this would benefit the Scottish fishing fleet, and Scottish Ministers must be alive to the potential dangers.”
Mike Park, executive chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association said: " The Commissioner’s mention of managing fisheries by effort is to some degree a response to Member States intransigence to accept the principal of Individual Transferrable Quotas (ITQ's) in its fullest form as part of the CFP reform process. It is quite an ambitious and revolutionary step which I'm sure would be accompanied by many complexities. Given the current issues attached to managing mixed species with single species quotas it is lateral thinking, such as this, which may just deliver a better system of managing our fisheries.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, commenting on Borg’s suggestion that annual catch limits (quotas) should be scrapped and replaced with an annual allowance of ‘days-at-sea’, said: “If the Fisheries Commissioner is genuinely suggesting that catch limits should be scrapped, then he would probably be killed in the rush at the quayside to accept the offer.
“But I am equally sure that if radical simplification is being offered, then scrapping of days at sea would be the first choice at the same quayside. Every fisherman will agree that there must be an enforced limit to what can be taken from the sea – nobody wants to see overfishing and the consequent downward spiral of commercial suicide. However, the consequences of using days at sea as the only control measure will require a great deal more thought. It is at best unpredictable and may, for some fisheries create more problems than it solves.
“Simplification of the present ridiculously detailed body of legislation covering fishing (some 800 separate pieces of legislation and regulation) is desperately needed; headline-grabbing simple solutions to inescapably complicated problems may not provide the correct answer. Nevertheless, it is an encouragement that the Commissioner is prepared to be truly radical and look at all options. We will, therefore, be asking him as a matter of urgency for more detail on what he is actually proposing.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Fisheries spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “We need more details about how the Commission’s plans to scrap the traditional quotas would work. At the very least we need to know how the EU will safeguard historic track records and allocations. There are Member States who have long advocated the abandonment of so-called relative stability.
“It is hard to see how this would benefit the Scottish fishing fleet, and Scottish Ministers must be alive to the potential dangers.”
