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.

Brexit: Scots MEP urges Brussels to halt North Sea fish plan

Ian Duncan
Ian Duncan

European Union fishing chief Karmenu Vella has been urged to put a management plan for the North Sea on ice pending “greater clarity” on the UK’s Brexit settlement.

Tory MEP Ian Duncan said yesterday he had written to the EU fisheries commissioner highlighting the “significant implications” for skippers landing fish worth hundreds of millions of pounds at Scottish ports every year.

Members of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee are anticipating a European Commission proposal for a multi-annual plan on the North Sea later this month.

“The plan is intended to give long-term stability in setting future catches, and support the implementation of the discard ban and further regionalised management.

Mr Duncan said: “While such a plan may have been sensible for the UK as a member of the EU, the departure of the UK will mean some 80% of the North Sea basin will lie outwith EU waters.

“The development of such a plan is, therefore, questionable.

“I am calling on the commission to postpone the publication of its North Sea fisheries management plan, pending greater clarity on the likely fisheries settlement between the UK and the EU.

“If MEPs and (European) Council working groups were to begin work on the plan at this stage, it would only add to the increasing uncertainty for fishermen and the fishing industry both within and outwith the EU.”

He added: “ I suggest that work on the proposed multi-annual plan for western waters should also be postponed, for the same reason.

“In the future, it is likely that total allowable catches for North Sea species will be settled either in a series of bilateral negotiations – UK/EU, Norway/EU and UK/Norway – or in a trilateral negotiation between the three fishing powers.

“Whilst in the short-term management measures in EU and British waters may remain similar, this almost certainly will not remain the case.

“It would, therefore, be sensible for the commission to consider how the EU would bring its management measures into conformity with the approach in the bulk of the North Sea.

“Such an issue should be given early consideration by the parliament’s fisheries committee, and I will be writing separately to its chairman, Alain Cadec, to raise this matter.”

According to Scotland’s chief statistician, 439,900tonnes of fish worth a total of £437million was landed by Scottish-registered boats during 2015.