The ever increasing fuel prices brought the Scottish fishermen under one roof as they are losing their quotas. The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has warned about the plight of the Scottish fishermen who are facing tough situation due to rising fuel costs. They failed to fully catch their share of fish that could result in the future reallocation of quotas by the EU to subsidized foreign fleets.
Bertie Armstrong, CEO SFF, said that the fishing should be more deserving support compared with other industry sectors. He told that if Scotland fail to take its share because Scottish boats can’t afford to put to sea or are put out of business, then someone else will take our fish. EU has proposed to allocate unused quota from one member state to other member states and that raises real fear as Scotland losing valuable catching opportunity if it is unable to take its allocation.
SFF has pressed the Scottish government for a two-pronged approach to ensure industry survival. The first phase will require the introduction of short-term support measures to ensure fleet viability with phase two focusing on what can be done over the medium to long-term. According to SFF apart from high fuel prices there should be recognition for longer term the fishing industry needs to explore ways of becoming more efficient in order to remain viable.
