Hard of Heeding

Standing outside Arbuthnot House in Peterhead with a Cod Crusader, fishermen, a small group of children and various members of the public, we were very conscious that it was an unusual Sunday evening.

It was a day of records. A record high January temperature – in nearby Aboyne it was 18 degrees. And a first, a First Minister in Peterhead to listen to our concerns.

But within a short time we knew better. A redundancy package not a recovery package was coming our way.

I have been visiting various fishing-related people, telephoning others, exchanging emails, receiving letters. The overwhelming majority know, like me, that what is proposed isn’t what we need.

One telephone call was to Jack McConnell, Labour’s First Minister, the head of the Scottish Government. Until the 1st May election that is.

As he drove north, I spoke to him on his car phone. Now since the introduction of digital phones a few years ago, I had thought the distortion that one could get with the original mobile phones had gone. Apparently not.

Despite his acknowledging very clearly the point I put to him about how vital it was to protect our investment in fishing so that when we could have a realistic opportunity to catch fish in future, he now delivers a package to slash and burn our industry.

Fewer boats means fewer fishermen, means fewer on-shore jobs, means fewer weans growing up with an assured future.

And the irony is that by failing to buy back licences and quota, these will end up in foreign hands. We could watch others catch our fish in years to come.

Forty Million pounds to buy back boats will secure a ‘pension’ for the lucky skippers, make the banks happy to get their loans paid off, but leave fishermen and community to carry the burden.

So what did I ask for?

I thought about all those shore-based industries that can’t diversify. If you make ice for the boats and there are no boats, who will buy your ice? If you make fish boxes and there are no fish, who will use your boxes? If you supply the food for a crew, who will eat it now?

A business rates holiday would help. But the Council would need more money to fund that. Jack says that’s an interesting idea.

A rent holiday for companies using Council or Enterprise company factories or offices. I have seen some of the business books of companies. Cash flow might, just might, balance with this help. Jack says that’s an interesting idea.

And a cheeky request for half a million to bring broadband to our area is not rejected either.

But as my mother used to say when I seem not to hear her as a bairn, “I used to think you were hard of hearing but now I know it’s hard of heeding.”

Listen up Jack, it’s now you that seem hard of heeding.

Cattle Numbers

As if our communities were not being hit hard enough by an EU-imposed fishing crisis, there are also indications that revision of the Common Agricultural Policy may also hit us hard.

Now it has long been accepted that the CAP is a mess. It produces food – and astonishingly in this day and age, subsidised tobacco – a deal of which finds no buyer.

The farmer of the future needs to be a steward of the countryside, and to be paid as one. But the move from production to protecting our rural environment needs to be managed to allow farmers to make the change.

But there is some good news. Average farm incomes across Scotland have risen from £6,000 in 2000-01 to a projected £10,500 in 2001-02. But adverts on the back of Edinburgh buses tell MSPs that their drivers can make £18,500 a year. That puts into perspective the limited reward for farmers’ long hours and financial risk.

And as if things are not bad enough cattle farmers are having trouble getting their money too.

The British Cattle Movement service is, if you will forgive me, making a right ‘cod’ of it. Data are lost, or not entered into their computer system, or allocated to the wrong farmer.

Then when farmers apply for cattle slaughter premiums and the like – a refusal to pay.

That is why I spoke in Parliament last week in an attempt to get it sorted.

Amendment 92C

The Land Reform Act it now is. After enormous effort we finally got there.

And only one minor procedural glitch. A Labour member seemed to be missing from the chamber when their amendment to the Bill came up for debate.

So the Presiding Officer asked the SNP to move it. We were happy to do so.

Then the Labour MSP voted against it! Parliamentary democracy at work.