Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead is to meet representatives from across the Scottish fishing industry at the SFF headquarters in Aberdeen on Monday 12 May to hear details of the acute difficulties being faced by the Scottish fishing industry with the price of fuel.
The industry intends to make it clear the damage that is being done to a recently optimistic industry by the relentless rises in fuel costs and to discuss realistic ways ahead. The timing of the meeting should allow time for the Scottish Government to investigate possible solutions.
Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: “The world price of fuel is not set by this government and a fuel subsidy is neither possible nor demanded.
“However a realistic package of survivability measures is achievable. We are asking for transparency over the kind of measures that our European commercial competitors in the French and Spanish fleets are receiving. If competition rules are being breached, than they must be challenged right now, but if it is innovative and legal measures that are being utilised, then they must be matched.
“We are not asking for special treatment but for a level playing field. Following some painful changes including major decommissioning, real progress has been made in sustainable fishing, under a carefully developed programme of cooperation between the Scottish industry, science and government. We must not let this investment in the future slip away.”
