The fishing industry faces one of the most challenging years in its history, according to Scottish Fishermen’s Federation Chief Bertie Armstrong.
Mr Armstrong said a row with Iceland and the Faroes over mackerel caches remained to be resolved.
The SFF will also push for change to European rules on hw fish stocks are managed.
Mr Armstrong aid many of the problems effecting the fishing industry were ‘embedded’ in regulations that govern it.
The so-called “Mackerel Wars” over how much of the fish can be taken by various countries has placed Iceland and the Faroe Islands a odds with the European Union and Norway.
Mackerel is the most valuable stock to the Scottish industry.
Starting last summer, the row saw the Faroese Trawler, Jupiter, blockaded for a time by Peterhead fishermen.
SFF Chief executive Mr Armstrong said tough action was needed to bring an end to the dispute.
He said: “2011 is going to be of the most challenging that the Scottish fleet has ever faced in is history. The situation with Iceland and the Faroes is absolutely unsatisfactory the regard to the behaviour of these two nations and that must change though sanctions on their fish sale”.
Mr Armstrong said h SFF would also continue its push for changes to EU regulations.
Scottish fishermen face deep cuts in catch quotas after the all night EU Fish Council talks in Brussels last month.
The West coast of Scotland was hardest hit, with 25% reductions in catch sizes for cod, haddock and whiting.
There were com successes for the Scottish negotiation team, with proposed reductions to other species scaled back.
The SFF chief executive said the amount of fish discarded, or dumped, to meet quota rules was one area that needed to be tackled.
He said: “ A feature of the year will discards and what to do with discards and a lot of this is embedded in the regulations . Their heart is in the right place but perversely the effect of the regulations is not to increase sustainability and decrease discards, but almost in some cases the reverse”.
He added: “That tends to be the hallmark f 2011-a serious change to the rules to make them fit better”.
