Dredging damage

Almost every paragraph of Anne-Margaret Anderson’s article (Scallop dredging is green ­industry, Friends of The Scotsman, 5 June) can be challenged.

Stewardship of the Loch Fyne Herring Fisheries and the Clyde Sea Fisheries over many generations has resulted in catastrophic loss of both. The Clyde Sea Area was recently referred to at an ­international fisheries conference as a prime example of how not to look after a fishery.

Scallop dredging is a destructive method of fishing, with hundreds of scientific studies throughout the world confirming this and the curtailing actions many states have taken. There has been a struggle in this country to get government to bring this environmentally damaging situation under control, with politicians fearing they might lose votes from fishing communities.

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If Anderson could see some of the Clyde and west coast sea beds now and as they were 50 years ago, before scallop dredging, it would bring tears to her eyes. If she or her Scottish White Fish Producers Association cared what we were leaving for our children they would certainly tell a very different story.

Crawford Grier

St Catherine’s, Cairndow

Argyll