A new six-point plan is being launched to keep the north-east’s top ports at the forefront of the European fishing industry.
The strategy includes revamps of the harbours at Peterhead and Fraserburgh, helping a local processing firm rise from the ashes of a huge fire and encouraging school leavers and students to choose a career in the sector.
Last night, one prominent fisherman insisted the future of the industry was bright – and backed plans to develop a new generation of skippers and crews.
Aberdeenshire Council will today publish a major study on the state of fish processing in Banff and Buchan as part of a wider push to cement the sector’s future.
The local authority is also preparing for a week of discussions about the future of the fleets in Peterhead and Fraserburgh.
And later this week the council’s infrastructure committee will be asked to sign-off on a new action plan aimed at “ensuring Aberdeenshire ports continue to be the major European centres for quality seafood supplying national and international markets”.
Experienced Peterhead skipper Jimmy Buchan – who starred in the BBC’s acclaimed Trawlermen series – said it was important to promote the industry in a positive light to encourage young people to join and sustain it for the future.
He added: “This is now my 40th year in this game. When I started, a senior fishermen said to me that this business was finished and that I should get a different career.
“Since then I’ve borrowed a lot of money to get a boat, and now in 2015 I’m still here.
“Investing in young people is important because without young people coming through we’re in a dead end. The future can be bright.
“Oil and gas gets spoken about quite a lot but it’s a resource that will run out.
“The one thing I’m very confident in is that if we have the due diligence and the benefit of hindsight there will always be fish in the sea.”
Mr Buchan stressed that securing a better deal for fishermen in future rounds of European Union negotiations was vital to the industry’s long-term success.
He said: “Young people can then say that the industry has a future, because we have plans, aspirations and hope.”
Banff and Buchan MP Eilidh Whiteford, who acted as the SNP’s fishing spokeswoman in the last Westminster parliament, said last night: “There are challenges for the industry currently, most notably the implementation of the discards ban.
“However, the Scottish industry has reason to be optimistic that a profitable and prosperous future still lies ahead.
“Peterhead has seen record fish landings in recent months and has ambitious plans to enhance the port.
“I welcome the council looking at how it can better support the industry. We need all levels of government working together to get the best deal for our catching sector and to help our processing sector exploit worldwide export opportunities.”
In a report to councillors, the local authority’s business and communities chief, Morna Harper, says: “The fortunes of Peterhead and Fraserburgh ports are intimately linked with the local seafood processing sector.
“The final report will include a detailed five-year action plan for industry and partners to drive sustainable economic growth in the processing and related sector.”
She adds: “A key concern of the fishing industry in Aberdeenshire is the lack of young local people with a career interest in entering the sector.
“In association with the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, the Scottish Maritime Academy and the Seafish Industry Authority, the council has launched the Introduction to Commercial Fishing, a pilot two-year project targeted at local school leavers to provide training and work experience on board a commercial vessel.”
Earlier this year, the fish processing sector in Peterhead was hit hard when North Bay Pelagic factory – one of the largest of its kind in the country – was destroyed by a huge blaze.
Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Government were quick to step in to support the firm, which has already submitted plans to rebuild the plant.
Elsewhere in Peterhead the port authority is progressing an ambitious plan to revamp the fish landing areas to cement its position as Europe’s leading white fish port and in Fraserburgh the harbour board is continuing efforts to create more deep water berthing.
Fraserburgh councillor Charles Buchan, chairman of the council’s Fisheries Working Group, said: “It’s good news. I’m particularly interested in Fraserburgh but the fortunes of Peterhead and Fraserburgh are linked.
“Fraserburgh is the town most dependent on fishing in Scotland. Fishing is important to Peterhead but there are also other offshore links going on.
“We need these primary industries, like fishing and farming, when the oil goes away and up until now there’s not been enough focus on fishing. There will always be a supply.”