Minister in move to lift mackerel catch bans

Published on 05/07/2012 02:06

RICHARD Lochhead, the Scottish fisheries secretary, is to join fishermen’s leaders in a bid to persuade three of Britain’s major supermarkets to lift their boycott of Scottish mackerel catches.

Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and the Co-op announced earlier this week that they will not buy Scottish mackerel until environmental certification governing its sustainability is reinstated.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which certifies fishing is sustainable, suspended certification at the end of March after Iceland and the Faroe Islands hiked up their mackerel quotas in the north-east Atlantic.

The three supermarkets announced they will not be sourcing mackerel from Scottish pelagic fleet landings until the situation is resolved. Mackerel is Scotland’s most valuable single catch valued at £164 million last year.

Mr Lochhead is now planning to meet representatives of the three supermarkets, together with officials of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association.

He said: “The Scottish Government continues to work with the UK and the EU to seek a resolution as soon as possible to the mackerel dispute. Other countries are fishing the stock outwith an international management plan, which has led to overfishing of the shared mackerel stock and MSC suspension.

“We are keen to ensure that the people of Scotland – and the rest of the UK – have the opportunity to buy Scottish mackerel. Therefore, I will be inviting the supermarkets to a meeting in late summer – to be hosted jointly by the Scottish Government and the industry and facilitated by Seafood Scotland – to discuss this issue.”

Ian Gatt, the chief executive of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, welcomed the move.

He said: “We both thought it would be useful as a joint initiative to provide them with as much information as they need in order to base their future procurement requirements.”