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.

Plenty at stake for Scots fleet in crunch fish talks

Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead

Crunch talks in Brussels this week have a major bearing on how Scotland’s fishing fleet copes with its next big challenge.

While quotas for many key North Sea stocks were agreed at recent negotiations between the European Union and its partners in shared fisheries, the discussions in Belgium’s capital today and tomorrow will fix the catch rules for next year.

As ever with the EU’s December Fisheries Council, there are battles still to be won and Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead is arguing for an end to the outdated cod recovery plan.

Introduced at a time when the survival of North Sea cod was under threat, it continues to limit quotas today despite a significant improvement in stock size.

Mr Lochhead, who is in Brussels as part of the UK negotiating team, is seeking “immediate action and commitments” from the European Commission to begin the repeal of the “flawed” cod recovery plan.

He said: “It has been a millstone around our fishermen’s necks for far too long and their efforts, which have borne fruit in the recovery of the North Sea cod stock, now need to be recognised.”

This week’s council is the last before the discard ban, or landing obligation, starts hitting Scotland’s white-fish fleet.

Skippers will have to land nearly all of their catch, instead of dumping unwanted fish overboard as they did in the past.

Pelagic boats – catching mainly mackerel and herring – have operated under a discard ban for a year, with few problems.

But the more complex white-fish sector is facing a far bigger challenge because of the wide range of species hauled in.

The industry recognises the need to end the wasteful practice of discards, but heads into the new year with major doubts and a lot of unanswered questions about how the new system will work.

There was a scare last week, when it emerged that a previous agreement to phase in the discard ban had been overturned in the European Parliament – meaning it would apply to all white-fish species from January 1.

On Friday, pressure from MEPs including Scotland’s Ian Duncan achieved a return to the original plan for a phased introduction of the ban.

Mr Duncan said Scots fishers could have faced a “bleak” Christmas if the earlier vote had not been challenged.

Industry chiefs hope this week’s talks will give more clarity on the ban, while also confirming an “uplift” in quota to compensate skippers for having to land the bulk of their catch.

Mr Lochhead is also seeking to make sure there are no surprise reductions in days at sea for a fleet which has already endured many years of savage cuts in quota and fishing time in the name of conservation.