Another December Fisheries Council in Brussels is all over and Scottish skippers are left wondering what to make of the latest rules affecting their livelihoods.
The outrage of past years has given way to a grudging acceptance but also bewilderment about the increasingly complicated legislation surrounding their activities.
Quotas and other tools used to protect fish stocks may change from one year to the next but the end-of year talks in Belgium’s capital are consistent in that they continue to be long, drawn-out battles over exactly how much fish can be caught and where.
With 28 EU member states involved, some of which have no waters to fish, it is perhaps a miracle that a deal can be agreed within 48 hours.
Fraught negotiations over how many anchovies the Portuguese and Spanish fleets should be allowed to catch, or how big the quotas for sprat and turbot are in the Black Sea can hamper efforts to achieve a swift conclusion.
One December Fisheries Council of recent years was much longer than it should have been because the French delegation resorted to tit-for-tat antics over a previous political deal which had nothing to do with fishing.
Hopes of an early finish to this year’s were almost scuppered by heated debate between the UK, Irish and French delegations over their bass quotas.
As ever with the end-of-year Fisheries Council, industry chiefs were wary of potential nasty surprises in the final outcome – such as a further cut in days at sea, which was avoided.
Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation chief executive Iain MacSween said that in football terms the industry’s expectations were on a par with “playing for a draw away from home”.
At least everyone got to Brussels, despite the best efforts of Belgians to shut the city down for a day.
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead and some industry representatives were forced to jump in a car at Amsterdam for the last 100 miles of their journey.
A general strike across Belgium from 10pm on Sunday to 10pm on Monday ruled out planes, trains, buses, trams and Brussels’ underground system.