An urgent review of visas for non-EU citizens working on British fishing boats is needed, according to an MP.
Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said the visas were not allowing skippers to fish in the right places and were also too legally complex.
Mr Carmichael, who has just been elected vice-chairman of Westminster’s all-parliamentary group for fisheries, called for Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis to meet the group to find a solution.
Mr Carmichael said: “This was a productive first meeting. I am looking forward to continuing the work of the group towards ensuring the sustainability of the fleet in these uncertain times.
“The system by which fishing workers from outside the EU are issued with visas is simply not fit for purpose. These are essentially transit visas for British boats fishing outside of territorial waters and it is very complicated for the industry to comply with the law. “As a result, skippers are fishing where the visas allow them to, rather than where the fish are. I want to see a meeting between the Immigration Minister and all parties in order to find a solution to this particular problem, as well as all the other issues relating to Brexit.”
The latest Marine Scotland employment report showed 70% of fisheries workers were Scottish.
About one-in-five workers were from non-EU countries and nearly all from just four countries, which were the Philippines, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Belarus.
Within that number, 15% were Filipino, 3% Ghanaian, 1% Sri Lankan and 0.1% Belarusian.
Crews from the European Economic Area (EEA), who do not currently need work visas, made up 8% of workers, with 4% Romanian, 3% Latvian, 0.4% Lithuanian, 0.8% Polish, 0.1% Irish and 0.1% Spanish.
