Future of fishing
10/03/2010
In these times, fishermen and the wider industry will be called upon to be as resilient as ever. This year promises once again to be a mixed bag for fishing - it will have its fair share of difficult challenges for some sectors as well as opportunities to make long lasting effective change in how we manage our fisheries and market our world renowned seafood.
Low market prices still plague some sectors but by no means all. And rising fuel prices could chip away at incomes. We need Europe to emerge from recession to help fish prices improve in turn helping the incomes of the industry. And we need to market what we do land better to secure a bigger return from the market for fishermen.
The Green Paper on the broken Common Fisheries Policy has fired the starting pistol on a new debate on the future of fishing across Europe. Scotland has responded with an informative contribution following extensive consultation with the industry and other stakeholders. The independent experts of the Inquiry into Future Fisheries Management helped shape our response which not only highlights why the CFP fails Scotland and Europe, but more importantly charts a course towards real and meaningful change that will deliver a sustainable and profitable future for our fleets and communities.
I have repeatedly highlighted the absurdities within the current system - a system that in principle allows a land-locked country like Austria a greater influence over fisheries than we have. Our fishermen continue to suffer the consequences of ill-fitting and illogical fishing regulations made in Brussels.
Any future blueprint should return fisheries decisions to nations and acknowledge and reward the leadership our fishermen have shown on conservation. In 2010 we will continue to work with them to tackle the economic and environmental madness of discards and ensure they get due reward for doing so. I firmly believe that the Scottish industry has a greater sense of responsibility and that we are already doing more than any other European country to reduce discards - a view recently echoed by the WWF.
I am extremely proud that Scottish fishermen have been in the advance guard of actions to avoid the catching and discarding of non-targeted stocks. The voluntary system of Real Time Closures, introduced by Scotland's fishermen to help avoid cod and promote its recovery, is now being adopted by other Member States. Scotland's innovative use of more selective and larger mesh gear as well as many unilateral actions on conservation is evidence of the responsible manner adopted by Scottish fishermen.
While the autumn negotiations in Brussels and outcome of the delayed EU-Norway talks brought a degree of stability for some fishermen, it's no secret that others face more challenges in 2010. One of the most positive aspects of the EU-Norway deal was the 10-year deal on the future management of mackerel, Scotland's most valuable stock, which will help end uncertainties around its management. Other major achievements were an agreement on how Iceland should be tackled over its mackerel overfish, a 16.5 per cent quota increase in North Sea cod and the go ahead for a catch quota initiative for North Sea cod to help tackle discards and boost profitability.
Of course with such complex and difficult issues being negotiated with so many countries involved it was nigh on impossible to leave with everything on Scotland's wish list, but I think we were justified in sticking to our guiding principle which was a determination to secure a deal, but not at any price, and we refused to buckle under pressure.
The North Sea cod stock is starting to show the first signs of recovery with increases in stock size even if the stock remains well below precautionary levels. The Total Allowable Catch has been able to increase considerably in the last few years thanks to the sacrifices of the fleet and associated agreement measures such as Scotland's Conservation Credits Scheme. This year's increase is on the back of a 30 per cent increase last year and 11 per cent in 2008. Data suggests discard levels of cod in the North Sea fell significantly in 2009. In order to continue to be able to reduce discards further, the EU has been given the green light to trial "catch quotas" for North Sea cod in 2010. Vessels taking part in the trial will be given up to 30 per cent more quota in addition to what they landed previously, but will be required to land all cod. More details will be announced over the coming weeks.
The Scottish Government will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the industry. During testing times we must work together. Our new 'Eat Fresh, Eat Seasonal' campaign follows hard on the heels of last year's successful 'Eat More Fish' initiative, which helped secure a significant increase in total retail sales of seafood in Scotland both in value and volume. Through our National Food and Drink Policy, our joint aim is to ensure sea fishing is an increasingly successful part of Scotland's food and drink industry.
More and more fishermen are avoiding the "pile them high, sell them cheap" approach and are instead seeking to add value and improve quality. We can impress upon consumers across the world that our nation's product is healthy and of outstanding quality.
It is clear to me that we must better align the catching sector with market requirements. Furthermore, we must ensure that value added by the supply chain benefits the primary producer - the fisherman.
To ensure that happens, we need to build on the many good examples within the industry where fishermen are closely linked through the supply chain to the processor, who is linked to the retailer, who is linked to the consumer. The value added through doing so will benefit all in the supply chain, including fishermen and processors. Iain McSween, the chair of Seafood Scotland, is heading up a Supply Chain Review Group whose findings will be invaluable as we strive to maximise the value of landings and ensure that they are coordinated across the Scottish Fisheries Council's subgroups.
So it's clear that there is much to debate over the coming months. Scottish views in informing that debate have arguably never been more important. As in the past we will need to work together to meet this challenge. I am confident that we have the vision, the resilience and the reputation to be major players in shaping the future of fisheries in Europe.