Responding to the publication of a report from WWF UK putting forward the case for a network of marine protected areas in the North Sea, Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation said:
“Scottish fishermen have been at the forefront of developing a wide variety of measures for the sustainable harvesting of fish stocks and we are now reaping the benefits of this.
“These targeted and effective measures have included our support for the real-time closures of fishing areas to protect juvenile and spawning fish.
“Whilst we welcome constructive debate on fish conservation, we believe the proposals put forward by WFF are fundamentally flawed. The sweeping assumption is made that very large fixed marine protected areas would prove beneficial in the North Sea based on evidence gained from elsewhere. Such an assumption cannot safely be made, given the unique nature of the mixed fisheries in the North Sea.
“Their proposal also fails to take into account the fact that humans have been an integral part of the marine ecosystem since Medieval times and have their place in the sustainable harvesting of fish.
“We believe that introducing marine protected areas on the scale proposed by WFF would have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of Scottish fishermen and would also affect the fish supply chain to the consumer.”
