Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scots fishers urge ministers to resist campaign for giant freezer trawler

Scottish fishing chiefs say the 266ft trawler, Kirkella, leaves the Scottish fleet short-changed.
Scottish fishing chiefs say the 266ft trawler, Kirkella, leaves the Scottish fleet short-changed.

The UK Government is being urged to ignore a “concerted campaign” to deprive Scottish fishers of quota in favour of a huge, foreign-owned freezer trawler operating out of a British port.

Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt and Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Simon Collins said lobbying by the vessel’s owner, East Yorkshire-based UK Fisheries, to secure more fish “must be resisted”.

Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association chief executive Ian Gatt.

The 266ft trawler, Kirkella, fishes hundreds of miles away from UK shores – around the Arctic Sea.

With 30 crew and automated processing, the first fish reach the on-board freezers 40 minutes after being caught

Kirkella’s catch is said to make up about one-twelfth of the cod and haddock supplied to UK fish and chip shops.

As part of complicated quota swaps, the vessel has previously bulked out its quota of Barents Sea cod – for which Scottish fishers end up sacrificing blue whiting and saithe.

Mr Gatt said: “This vessel operates out of Hull, but is owned primarily by Dutch and Icelandic interests, is largely operated by a non-UK crew and processes its catch on board.

“In 2022 the owners already have 6,550 tonnes of Svalbard cod quota and an associated 14% bycatch, plus 500t of Barents Sea cod quota.

“To put that in perspective, the entire UK fleet has a cod quota this year of 5,934t, of which the Scottish fleet has 3,500t.

“And yet they want even more from the Barents Sea, paid for with Scottish quotas.”

‘Scandalous’ EU practice

Mr Collins added: “Thankfully, the UK is now an independent coastal state and has departed from a scandalous EU practice in which Scottish fish were traded away to the exclusive benefit of a multinational conglomerate.

“It is imperative there is no going back on this by ministers. In current and future discussions we must not get to the point where the interests of a foreign-owned company outweigh genuinely British interests.”

Conversation