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AN MSP has accused Scotland’s First Minister of “ignoring” a key question on the welfare of prawn fishermen.
Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP and the Scottish Conservative Environment Spokesman, challenged First Minister Alex Salmond at the final First Minister’s Questions of 2011 to give extra support to Scotland’s nephrops fishermen who fear their income will be hit by the implications of this year’s EU fisheries deal.
But the MSP said Mr Salmond failed to respond to his specific question.
Commenting after the parliamentary question and answer session, Mr McGrigor said:
“On behalf of the fishermen who have contacted me since the EU fisheries deal, I asked the First Minister specifically to assure me and the chamber that the Scottish nephrops fleet would be provided with additional support to help it deliver the highly selective gears that would allow it to continue to catch whitefish which are an important element of that sector’s income.
“It is incredibly frustrating that the First Minister chose to ignore this important question and instead decided to attack the UK government and, bizarrely, claim that David Cameron’s use of the veto had left the UK isolated in the fisheries talk.”
This had “completely contradicted” what Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead had said that Scotland and the UK had worked with and won the support of Spain, France and Germany in the fishing talks.
“The First Minister should have addressed the legitimate concerns of Scottish nephrops fishermen rather than spouting his usual, inaccurate and unhelpful bluster,” Mr McGrigor added.
Mr McGrigor has already described the fisheries deal as “lumpy water” yet again for the Scottish fishing fleet.
And in his response to Mr Lochhead’s statement to MSPs on the talks, Mr McGrigor has questioned whether the Minister felt the talks result was a good one.
“Does he think that the status quo would have been a good enough result? Why does the Scottish fleet, which has been praised by the Commission for conservation, again have to suffer cuts in effort, which will play havoc with the livelihoods of people in fishing communities up and down the Scottish coastline? Why is poor Scotland, which has strived to perfect conservation measures, being punished while Iceland and the Faroes, which, frankly, have done the opposite, are so far basking in their forbidden fruits—or should I say forbidden fish?” the MSP added.
Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP and the Scottish Conservative Environment Spokesman, challenged First Minister Alex Salmond at the final First Minister’s Questions of 2011 to give extra support to Scotland’s nephrops fishermen who fear their income will be hit by the implications of this year’s EU fisheries deal.
But the MSP said Mr Salmond failed to respond to his specific question.
Commenting after the parliamentary question and answer session, Mr McGrigor said:
“On behalf of the fishermen who have contacted me since the EU fisheries deal, I asked the First Minister specifically to assure me and the chamber that the Scottish nephrops fleet would be provided with additional support to help it deliver the highly selective gears that would allow it to continue to catch whitefish which are an important element of that sector’s income.
“It is incredibly frustrating that the First Minister chose to ignore this important question and instead decided to attack the UK government and, bizarrely, claim that David Cameron’s use of the veto had left the UK isolated in the fisheries talk.”
This had “completely contradicted” what Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead had said that Scotland and the UK had worked with and won the support of Spain, France and Germany in the fishing talks.
“The First Minister should have addressed the legitimate concerns of Scottish nephrops fishermen rather than spouting his usual, inaccurate and unhelpful bluster,” Mr McGrigor added.
Mr McGrigor has already described the fisheries deal as “lumpy water” yet again for the Scottish fishing fleet.
And in his response to Mr Lochhead’s statement to MSPs on the talks, Mr McGrigor has questioned whether the Minister felt the talks result was a good one.
“Does he think that the status quo would have been a good enough result? Why does the Scottish fleet, which has been praised by the Commission for conservation, again have to suffer cuts in effort, which will play havoc with the livelihoods of people in fishing communities up and down the Scottish coastline? Why is poor Scotland, which has strived to perfect conservation measures, being punished while Iceland and the Faroes, which, frankly, have done the opposite, are so far basking in their forbidden fruits—or should I say forbidden fish?” the MSP added.
