West coast fishermen face cod ban as EC demands more cuts to quotas

SCOTTISH fishermen’s leaders have condemned European Commission proposals for drastic reductions in the landings of many of the fleet’s key species – including a zero catch of cod off Scotland’s west coast.

Last year west coast skippers warned they were facing an “economic holocaust” after European Fisheries ministers imposed 25 per cent cuts in their haddock, cod and whiting quotas and a 15 per cent cut in the fleet’s mainstay prawn catch for 2011.

But Maria Damanaki, the European Fisheries commissioner, is demanding that west coast trawlers dump every cod they catch next year back dead into the sea. She is also calling for a 25 per cent cut in the lucrative monkfish catch on the west coast, as well as a 15 per cent reduction for megrim and an 11 per cent cut for hake. The west coast haddock catch could be increased by 25 per cent.

Bertie Armstrong, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said the proposals were “grim news” for the Scottish fleet. “We had hoped that with the Scottish fleet’s record of discard reduction and stock conservation that a more intelligent approach to fisheries management would have been adopted by the EC this year. Unfortunately, we have another dose of the same old medicine.”

He added: “We are particularly disappointed that the increase in west of Scotland haddock, whilst welcome as far as it goes, does not come close to recognising the robust health of this important stock and will inevitably lead to discarding, a practice the Scottish fleet finds abhorrent.”

Richard Lochhead, the Scottish fisheries secretary, said that the scientific advice that haddock stocks on the west coast had returned to sustainable levels should have been a cause for celebration. But the catch limits would only serve to punish conservation-minded skippers.

The 2,808 tonnes of west of Scotland haddock estimated to have been dumped by the Scottish fleet last year – worth about £3.5 million – is more than the Commission is proposing for next year’s total catch.

Mr Lochhead said: “Despite scientific advice recommending a 410 per cent increase for the west coast haddock catch, the commission have only proposed a meagre 25 per cent increase. Not only does this penalise our fishermen unnecessarily, it could also lead to an increase in discarded fish – something both we and the commission have been working hard to reduce. There seems to be one rule for suggesting decreases in allocations, and another for increases.”

The proposals announced yesterday cover a total of 62 species in the Atlantic and the North Sea.