With Scotland set to undergo a second independence referendum in the near future, there is no lack of speculation on where this would leave the Scottish fishing industry, not least as an independent Scotland would be highly likely to expect to be part of the EU.
All the balls are once again in the air. In 2014 Scotland voted firmly to remain part of the UK with a significantly stronger majority than the narrow margin that took the UK as a whole towards Brexit – although the electorates in both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted last summer in favour of remaining in the EU.
Now there is real the possibility that Scotland could vote to leave the UK – and could elect to remain part of the EU or apply with its new independence to join, much the the concern of much of the Scottish fishing industry. A petition against allowing a second referendum has already begun to circulate.
In a statement on the proposed second independence referendum, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has refrained from taking sides, commenting that ‘the focus of the fishing industry is entirely on ensuring we free ourselves from the straitjacket of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which forces us to give away to other EU countries almost 60% of the fish in our waters.’
‘Any constitutional arrangement under which we would continue to be bound by the CFP would be unacceptable to the industry,’ Bertie Armstrong said.
