Shetland’s fishermen leaders hope to negotiate concessions on the incoming ban on discards when UK fishing minister George Eustice visits the isles today.
The Conservative MP will visit the NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway, tour the Lerwick waterfront and be shown round a whitefish boat to learn about mixed fisheries.
Speaking ahead of the visit, the chief officer of the Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA), Simon Collins, said the association had two burning issues to discuss with the minister.
He said the ban on discards, which is being phased in for demersal fisheries between 2016 and 2019, would make many whitefish boats unviable if introduced in a strict manner.
As of 2016, whitefish catchers have to stop fishing once one they have exhausted their quota for just one of the main local species: cod, saithe, haddock or whiting.
Mr Collins said: “This is what causes the industry so much alarm. When you exhaust one quota you have to stop fishing even if you have lots of other quotas left for other species.
“The situation up until now is that you have to discard what you have exhausted your quota for so that you can carry on fishing.”
The industry now wants assurance of pragmatism and flexibility from the department for fishery to allow Shetland’s demersal fleet to continue fishing one of the richest fishing grounds in Europe.
Fishermen also want to vent their anger on the recent mackerel deal with Norway and the Faroe islands in which Iceland didn’t participate.
They have publicly voiced their frustration with the settlement, which they say, had stripped the UK, mainly Shetland, of EU quota and handed it to the Faroese.
g worse.
Speaking ahead of his visit, the minister said he was “delighted” to be meeting the fishermen and vowed to continue working to get them the best deal possible through the Common Fisheries Policy.
He said: “The UK government has fought for their interests at the highest level in Europe, pushing for more regionalised decision making and for harmful fishing policies such as automatic reductions in days at sea and North Sea cod quotas to be stopped and reviewed.”