Shetland’s fishing industry is stepping up efforts to make sure its voice is heard in the EU as skippers across the bloc grapple with the new rules on discards.
The main body for the sector in the islands, Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA), has just joined a pressure group representing more than 80,000 fishermen.
SFA is the 13th member association of Europeche, which has itself recently ramped up its campaign to protect fishing interests against a determined and sustained attack from big environmental groups.
Battling on behalf of 45,000 fishing boats in nine European countries, Europeche works alongside policy-makers to highlight the need for an economically and socially sustainable sector.
SFA was prompted to join the organisation by the new ban on fish discards, which will start hitting the white-fish fleet from January 2016.
Chief executive Simon Collins said: “It has long been a source of frustration among fishermen that their very obvious expertise is frequently ignored when it comes to policy-making.
“But the fiasco of the discard ban, where under pressure from green NGOs (non governmental organisations) the EU introduced legislation obliging fishermen to land everything they catch and then turned to fishermen to make it work when they realised they couldn’t, has turned the tide.
“Increasingly it is being recognised that fishermen have a significant role to play in the policy-making process.
“The SFA has chosen to join Europeche because it is at the heart of the drive to restore the rightful place of fishermen in helping to build a future for the industry, while preserving the environment.”
Europeche managing director Kathryn Stack said: “We are very pleased to welcome Shetland Fishermen’s Association. The association represents an important portion of the UK fleet and needs a strong voice in Brussels.
“It is important that we have a wider spectrum of views and contributions from all types of fisheries in the EU, and we are very keen to start working with the association and listening to Shetland’s fisheries concerns to ensure the rules they have to conform to are workable and realistic.”