Outrage at EU moves to 'auction' fish quotas

INDUSTRY leaders and fishing communities are gearing up to campaign against proposed changes to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which could throw open Scotland's lucrative fishing grounds to foreign trawler fleets.

Until now foreign fleets, including Spanish trawlers, have been kept out of Scottish waters by access rights, where catches are allocated on the basis of historical landings under the rule of so called "relative stability".

But the disclosure that the country's fishing grounds could be available to Spanish and other foreign trawlers under proposed changes to the CFP, put forward by Maria Damanaki, the European Fisheries Commissioner, has prompted fears that Scottish fishermen could be priced out of the market.

Damanaki has unveiled plans that opponents claim could see Scottish fish quotas for key species such as haddock, cod and langoustines being sold to the highest bidder anywhere in Europe.

Richard Lochhead, Scotland's Fisheries Minister, has warned that the proposed changes represent a "huge threat" to Scotland's fishing fleets. He told Scotland on Sunday: "It's concerning that the commission's proposals could allow our historic fishing rights to be sold off. This could see them end up in the hands of faceless multi-national companies, which would be bad news for Scots fishermen who would be priced out of the market.

"I believe national governments should continue to decide on the quota rights of their fishermen and we should not hand control to Brussels. We simply cannot allow fishermen to sell their quota to other countries, to the detriment of future generations."

Eilidh Whiteford, the SNP's Westminster fisheries spokeswoman, has also voiced her concerns. The MP for Banff and Buchan, home to the white fish ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh, said: "Selling quota to Europe's highest bidders will erode Scotland's historic rights which in turn could spell doom for our fragile fishing communities."

Damanaki is calling for a system of "transferable fishing concessions" offering a one-size-fits-all system across the EU to cut the capacity of the EU fleet.

The plan calls for an expansion in the international trading of fish quotas - stating "a member state may authorise the transfer of transferable fishing concessions to and from another member state. Member states may regulate the transfer of transferable fishing concessions by providing for conditions for their transfer on the basis of transparent and objective criteria."

Mike Park, the chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, the organisation which represents Scotland's white fish fleet, is also fearful of the impact of the new quota transfers.

He said: "International trading is a concern, given that compliance [with fishery legislation] is not equal across all members. We still have member states, like Spain, where we know compliance is low and they can gain profits on the back of that non compliance. They could then act as predators in the international market and they could buy their way into parts of the North Sea they can't get into at the moment.

"The only way they can get in currently is to buy a UK [fishing] company. This way they can just buy the quota."

Park stressed that any quota transfers would have to be agreed between member states. But he warned: "If you have one member state racking up profits on the back of illegality and another member state suffering because it is sticking to the rules then clearly that's not right and it becomes a threat to the whole international trading aspect. "

The Scottish fleet, he also warned, was already facing an inevitable downturn in capacity. He said: "The profit levels are not there and in many cases skippers are making significant losses."

But Jimmy Buchan, the star of BBC's Trawlermen series and a former Conservative parliamentary candidate, acknowledges an international trade in quotas might be inevitable, given the power of market forces.

Buchan, skipper of the Peterhead-registered prawn trawler Amity II, said: "What happens when a fisherman starts getting into financial difficulties and Scottish companies or skippers aren't prepared to pay him the money to get out? He will be driven by his pocket."

He added: "As much as I am against the proposals, you also have to realise that market forces will have a bearing. The Common Fisheries Policy has been a disaster and will continue to be a disaster until they start consulting fishermen. Last week, for example, I couldn't land whiting, hake, megrims, ling or saithe - five species I had to be dumping at sea. That's the great wisdom of the CFP."

Damanaki has defended her proposals, saying: "One way that contributes to giving responsibility back to the industry as well as to sustainability is a more market-based system of access to fleets.

"Tradable concessions have been introduced in many countries and proved effective in tackling overcapacity. For instance in Denmark the demersal fleet was slimmed down by 30 per cent and the pelagic one by 50 per cent.

"We propose safeguards to protect legitimate public policy concerns like preventing too many fisheries interests to be concentrated in the hands of a few.

"And the small-scale fleet will be exempt, to prevent it from being absorbed by bigger operators."

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