A Scottish voice in Europe

The fishing industry in Banff & Buchan and Scotland more widely, has had to make many sacrifices in its pursuit of a sustainable, profitable fishing industry. While nobody wants to see over-fishing take place to the point where a species is wiped out, some of the conservation measures that the industry has had to adopt have caused real difficulties to many people.

Because of the rigid nature of fishing quotas, fishermen across Europe have been forced into discarding perfectly good fish instead of landing and selling them. This practice has been a tragedy that no skipper has wanted to endure.

Rather than simply accept this as inevitable, the fishing industry in Scotland has led the way in adopting ever more innovative practices to avoid catching certain types of fish, which they would then be forced to throw away because of EU rules. These innovations, such as Real-Time Closures that temporarily shut areas of the sea where endangered fish stocks have been detected, have been a credit to the Scottish industry, demonstrating their willingness to adapt.

That is why I am delighted that this practice has been recognised and rewarded in recent EU-Norway fishing negotiations. The increase in cod quotas by 30% can only be considered to be recognition by the rest of Europe that Scottish practices are having a real effect on conservation.

Perhaps more significant, however, is the fact that the Scottish Real-Time Closures system of conservation will be rolled out across European fisheries, along with a ban on dumping marketable fish. What makes this so important is that it shows what can be achieved in Europe when Scotland’s voice is heard.

With 60% of the UK’s fishing industry based in Scotland, fishing represents a far more important industry to Scotland than it does to the UK as a whole. Yet despite this, it is a UK Government minister who represents the UK in European negotiations, despite not holding any responsibility for the bulk of the industry. EU rules fully allow ministers from devolved governments to take the lead and represent their member state in European negotiations such as this. It is only intransigence on the part of the UK government that stands in the way of Scotland taking the lead.

Given that Scotland’s example has been adopted by the rest of Europe, I can only wonder what could be achieved for our fishing industry if Scotland’s voice could be heard leading EU negotiations. Instead, we are supposed to be satisfied with a situation where Richard Lochhead, the Fisheries Secretary with responsibility for most of the UK’s industry, is forced to give way to his Westminster counterpart.

There could scarcely be a clearer example of the UK Government’s unwillingness to see Scotland standing up for our own interests than this situation. Their willingness to sacrifice the best interests of the fishing industry in order to do Scotland down is completely indefensible, and is something the industry in Banff & Buchan will not forgive.

Christmas wishes

With Christmas almost upon us, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody in Banff & Buchan a wonderful festive period and a happy new year.

Although the world economy has taken a turn for the worse, people know that in Scotland they have a government that will stand up for them at every opportunity. The SNP have worked tirelessly in 2008 for the people of Scotland, and I know that we will not slacken our efforts to help people through these difficult times in the New Year.