Fishermen change tack on conservation

THEY are the last of Scotland's true hunter-gatherers, the men who make a precarious living in the most dangerous job in Britain: harvesting the often rich bounty of the North Sea and the waters off the west coast.

They have been pilloried as robbers of the deep sea, men who plundered a fragile resource without a thought for the consequences, and vilified as an industry motivated by greed.

But, after a decade of unprecedented turmoil, which has seen the once mighty white fish fleet cut by two-thirds and a succession of draconian catching cuts, to save threatened cod stocks, Scotland's fishermen are trying on a new mantle as guardians of the resource on which their livelihoods depend.

They may not be conservationists. But they are, they insist, realists when it comes to the future of the stocks of fish, from cod to haddock to monkfish and langoustine, which inhabit the seas around Scotland's rugged coastline - waters still regarded as some of the best fishing grounds worldwide.

It has, however, required the white fish and pelagic fleets to be brought to the edge of oblivion and some of the stocks they plundered to be fished beyond sustainable levels for Scotland's fishermen to change tack and, for the first time in their history, set out on a course that should guarantee a future for both fish and fishermen in the long term.

The days of the clandestine landings of "black" fish - illegal and unreported catches of over-quota fish, which bypassed the legitimate quayside auction system - are long gone.

At one time, as much fish was being sold illegally as was being legitimately landed. But a new system of designated landing ports and registration scheme for buyers and sellers virtually wiped out the trade at a stroke on introduction in 2005.

The result, despite dwindling quotas, has been record prices at fish markets up and down the country. And those fishermen who survived the vessel scrapping schemes in 2001 and 2003 are now enjoying financial benefits that have flowed from an industry finally based on a legal foundation.

In just four years since the last decommissioning scheme, there has been a remarkable turnaround. New boats are being built, with ageing vessels replaced by modern trawlers, and for the first time in years young Scots are queuing up to train as deckhands. Industry leaders admit that it was nearing the brink of economic disaster that forced fishermen into a fundamental shift in the way they made their living.

Bertie Armstrong, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said:

"You have to remember that 20 years ago we were in what was known as the 'gadoid outburst' when, because of near-perfect conditions for fish recruitment, we had extraordinarily excellent stock levels and this was responded to by the governments of Europe, of course, by an expansion of fisheries and an expansion of the industry.

"And, as a general rule then, the way of making more money was volume: the more fish you caught, the more you got.

"There was a lot of fish in the sea and how you upped your income was just to catch more black. The accusations of over-fishing then was a fair one."

He continued: "But in the early part of this millennium there was general recognition that something had to be done to match capacity with catching opportunity and Scotland grabbed the thistle with two decommissioning rounds."

The Scottish fleet has also been at the forefront of implementing a series of measures to allow more juvenile fish to escape from their nets.

Mr Armstrong said: "We as an industry chose ourselves to impose targeted conservation measures ...

and we have seen the results. Fishermen have been saying for some time that the cod are coming back, particularly in the north, and we are delighted to see that is now reflected in the science."

Mike Park, a veteran North Sea skipper and chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers' Association, said:

"What we had before was a situation where we took what we could, rather than take what we should as an industry.

"Throughout the 90s and into the new millennium, although guys were making money, they were having to do it illegally and that created its own instability.

"But I think that now, when most fishermen have an investment of more than £1 million in their boats, people have realised there is no room for short-term profiteering."

FISHING BY NUMBERS

2,224
The total number of Scottish fishing vessels of all types from small creel boats to huge herring and mackerel trawlers now in the fishing fleet.

2,870
The total number of fishing vessels in the Scottish fleet in 1996.

165
The number of vessels axed from the Scottish fleet as a result of two decommissioning schemes, one in 2001 and the second in 2003.

4,109
The number of fishermen regularly employed on Scottish boats. Fraserburgh has the largest number (614) with Peterhead second (412).

8,084
The total number employed in Scotland's catching sector in 1996.

80,000
The number of voyages made by Scottish boats throughout 2006 - a 17 per cent increase on the previous year's total.

£370 million
The total value of landings by Scottish boats.

£390 million
The total value of landings into Scottish ports by vessels of all nationalities.

290,000 tonnes
The total weight of landings of fish of all species by British-registered vessels into Scottish ports.

17
The number of fishermen who died in British waters in 2006.