Scots Tory MEP Ian Duncan has warned that Scottish fishers will have to land all cod they catch starting next month after the European Parliament put off making a decision on the next phase of the discard ban.
Mr Duncan said yesterday’s move was an act “madness” that will have a “seismic impact” on the finances of Scottish fishers.
Mr Duncan said he was furious that the parliament’s fisheries committee had voted to shelve a “delegated act” which would have exempted cod from the discard ban until 2017 at the earliest.
He said the SNP had backed the postponement and accused the party of failing to stand up for UK fishers.
But a spokesman for Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead rounded on Mr Duncan, dismissing his comments as “codswallop” before saying no SNP MEPs had voted on the issue.
The spokesman also said it is the Scottish Government’s “intention” that the phasing in of the discard ban “should” take place as planned.
Under the ban, which is designed to cut waste and end overfishing, fishers have to land and dispose of unmarketable fish instead of throwing them overboard. The ban has been applied to pelagic species, like mackerel, but from January it will include demersal fish, such as haddock and sole.
Mr Duncan said a deal had been negotiated earlier in the year to postpone the inclusion of cod and hake until 2017 or 2018.
But several groups yesterday raised objections over the time period for amendment and pushed the decision on phased implementation back to February, leaving fishers facing a further two months of legal uncertainty.
Mr Duncan said: “I am furious that a decision of the Fisheries Committee (including the representatives of the groups to which the SNP and UKIP belong) to cancel the phased approach of the discard ban means that cod will now be subject to the full ban from 1st January. This is madness.
“Fishermen had been led to believe that cod would be included in the scope of the ban only from January 1, 2017. They now have less than three weeks to prepare for the full force of the ban for all species.”
Richard Lochhead’s spokesman said: “Ian Duncan should get an export grant for the amount of codswallop that he manufactures. No SNP MEP attended or voted in this committee and, crucially, as far as the Scottish Government is concerned, our intention is that phasing in of the discards ban between now and 2019 should take place as planned.”
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said applying the ban in its fullest form was unfeasible and that those who voted to delay the decision “did not understand” the consequences of their actions.
Mr Armstrong said: “You couldn’t make it up. It is crystal clear that the discard ban will be challenging enough to manage, but now the intended gradual introduction starting on January 1 has been derailed at the last moment, leaving a literally farcical confusion over what happens next.”