Fishermen of West Coast region are happy as the authority has exmpted almost 70 fishing vessels from EU restrictions. It is said that if the proposal approved at December Council, this hoped for breakthrough means that 67 Scottish fishing boats that fish for prawns in the Minch and the Clyde will no longer be subjected to days at sea limits. Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said that it seems that government’s determined efforts appear to have paid off.
He told that the government is working with the vessels involved to make sure that they continue to catch less than 1.5 percent cod. Lochhead now expect Scotland to benefit from an exemption already granted to other Member States like Spain and Sweden. He told, “Our valuable prawn fleets are no longer facing the prospect of new draconian technical measures in 2010, and changes to fishing gear that would have impacted on both viability and safety have been averted, there is still much to do.”
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong, opined that this has been a long battle on a matter of very important principle – vessels which don’t catch cod should not be trapped inside regulation which doesn’t apply to them. The Commission has today given the go ahead for a vote at December Council to give the exemption of the Minch and Clyde prawn boats the green light for formal exemption from days at sea.
