Fisheries Secretary labels European fishing rules an 'utter disgrace'

Published on Tuesday 3 November 2009 15:27

THE Scottish Government today once again attacked the European rules that requre millions of pounds worth of dead fish to be dumped at sea every year.

Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said the rules are an "utter disgrace" and called for fishermen to be allowed to land more of what they catch.

Fishermen who catch several species of fish in trawler nets must dump the unwanted fish they are not allowed to land, under EU rules.

More than a third of all cod caught in the North Sea and west of Scotland is thrown away, and whitefish worth 60 million is discarded in the North Sea alone, the Government claims.

Mr Lochhead told a fisheries conference in Edinburgh that the European Commission has admitted the common fisheries policy is broken and needs a major makeover.

"Scotland is now leading the debate on how its replacement will best serve the interests of fishermen and our environment," he claimed.

Calling for more powers to be returned to Scotland, he said the Brussels "remote-control approach" must be replaced by regional management.

"In return for taking less fish from the sea in the first place, our fishermen should be allowed to land more of what they do catch rather than be forced to dump it over the side of the boat", he said.

"For reducing overall fishing effort, our fishermen should be rewarded by being allowed to land and sell much of what is currently being thrown overboard.

"We need to stop simply regulating what is landed ashore and instead concentrate on what is actually removed from the sea in the first place.

"That means moving to catch quotas away from the current failed system."