Ernie Simpson: If they carry on then the impact on nation's fleet will be catastrophic

Published on Wednesday 18 August 2010 14:57

When the Faroese and Icelandic governments declared their huge autonomous quotas my reaction was one of sheer horror, writes Ernie Simpson.

Mackerel is everything to the Scottish pelagic fleet and more than 90 per cent of our earnings are from the species.

We don't have much in the way of quotas for anything else.

It's not just a very important species - it's the all important species. Along with Norway we have built up the market and achieved accreditation from the Marine Stewardship Council for the way the stock has been fished sustainably.

We make a reasonable living from the quota we get, although everybody is always looking for a bit more. But out of the blue the Icelandic and Faroese governments set their own limits.

There is, however, a bit of history and an explanation to all this. For years the mackerel had gone through their sectors during their migratory cycles and had not really been fished by the local trawlers.

Iceland and the Faroes had built up a fleet of pelagic boats to fish for blue whiting but, surprise surprise, the blue whiting stock has depleted.

They had all these new modern boats and they couldn't sustain them on blue whiting.

They had only one option - to find something from somebody else and they have gone for mackerel.

And if they are allowed to carry on with what they are doing then the impact on the Scottish pelagic fleet will be catastrophic.

Next year, because that additional fish has been caught, it will be taken into account in the overall quota system and our share of the EU catch could be at least halved.

And if you cut the value of mackerel landings to the Scottish fleet by that amount, the Scottish fleet simply wouldn't be economically viable. It could deplete by 40 per cent. And there are not a lot of pelagic boats left as it is.

Relative stability is the solution. But the EU has been slow to react. The skipper of the Jupiter said that this should have been sorted out politically and he is right. We didn't like doing what we did but we had no choice.

Hopefully. the EU will take action soon. We have the government's sympathy and we have got the EU's sympathy.

But we can't live on sympathy. We need action not words.

• Ernie Simpson, 63, is part owner of the Fraserburgh-registered Christina S. Scotland's most modern pelagic trawler and was a skipper for almost 40 years until he retired, handing over the vessel to his son, Allan.

This week he joined other pelagic fishermen in Peterhead in blockading an attempt by the skipper of the Faroese trawler, the Jupiter, to land a consignment of 1,100 tonnes of mackerel, bound for a local processing factory.