LORDS’ INQUIRY HEARS SFF LEADER’S DOOM-LADEN PREDICTION
Tradeable quotas ‘could kill off Scottish fishing industry’
Published:
Opening up Scottish fishing to market forces could kill it off, an industry leader warned last night .
International operators would buy up quota from the families who own the bulk of the existing Scottish fleet, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief ex- ecutive Bertie Armstrong told a House of Lords committee.
He delivered the doom-laden prediction that introducing tradeable quotas in the industry would “change things mightily”.
And he added: “You might find the only fishing vessels in the North Sea are the very efficient nice new Spanish vessels coming from Vigo.”
Mr Armstrong went on: “That may well make for a percentage price reduction on Waitrose’s shelves – but it is whether that is desirable for UK plc.
“I am not arguing for protection – I am just asking for wide open eyes as to the effect.”
The SFF chief said Scotland has “a world-class resource” in its fishing grounds and a fleet owned by a collection of small and medium-sized businesses – a lot of them family-owned.
There was a view that existing quotas should be made tradeable, which “would internationalise it very quickly”, said Mr Armstrong.
He feared it would create the conditions in which an Icelandic company might wait for a downturn “and come along and say ‘Would you like to be in the Caribbean tomorrow? I have a fork full of money here’.”
Mr Armstrong was giving evidence to the committee, chaired by Aberdeen peer Lord Sewell, a former Labour Scottish minister, which is investigating the effectiveness of the reformed European Union Common Fisheries Policy.
Mr Armstrong made it clear he is no supporter of the way the current policy has worked since it was reformed in 2002 but believes it is vital there should be an international arrangement to govern those involved in an industry which is exploiting a common resource.
In written evidence the SFF leader said there was a tendency for any debate on the fishing policy to focus on the past, particularly when catching limits were set.
