A Stonehaven skipper has claimed dredging gear destroys 4,455 tonnes of crab and lobster off the east coast each year, costing the economy £33 million.
Ian Mathieson yesterday contacted Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing to raise his concerns about the impact of dredging on the marine environment.
His claims are the latest development in a long-running battle between scallop dredgers and fishermen, like Mr Mathieson, who operate static fishing gear to catch lobster and crab.
Lobster and crab fishermen are angered by the intrusion of dredgers into waters where their creels and lobster pots are located, claiming they are damaging fishing stocks and becoming tangled in their equipment.
Mr Mathieson emailed Mr Ewing saying that dredge gear left areas of the sea “barren for years” and urged the minister to “grasp the nettle” and tackle the issue.
The skipper and his east coast colleagues used seafish landing data to calculate the cost of dredging on lobsters and crabs while referring to a scientific study into the impact of scallopers.
A York University study quoted research suggesting dredging resulted in the capture of approximately 25% of the edible crabs present in the dredge path.
But more than 40% of the remaining crabs were left dead or dying on the seabed.
Mr Mathieson said: “My colleagues and I have estimated that 4,455 tonnes of crabs and lobster are smashed and wasted every year on the east coast by dredging gear.
“That amounts to £33 million being lost to the Scottish economy.
“The steel teeth dragging across the seabed are destroying the marine life on the bottom anything that gets in their path gets smashed to bits.”
Another source of conflict has been boats with mobile gear such as dredges snagging on static gear, resulting in the loss of many thousands of pots and hundreds of miles of rope at sea.
Mr Mathieson claims to have lost more than 2,200 pots and 95 miles of rope during his career.
Recently, the skipper of the Stonehaven-based Dalwhinnie said he lost 600 lobster pots and 15 miles of rope – containing an estimated 20 tonnes of plastic.
That case is subject to a police investigation.
Mr Mathieson added: “There are tonnes and tonnes of rope drifting out there and we are asking people not to use straws in pubs.
“Why would any government let this happen to their seas?”
Femke de Boer of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association (SWFPA) scallop committee said the growth of renewables had forced some scallopers to move from their traditional fishing grounds.
At the same time, she said, the high value of lobster and crab had led to an increase in creelers.
“I don’t know where he gets those figures from,” Ms de Boer said of Mr Matieson’s comments.
“But it may also work the other way round in that creelers might take away areas from the scallopers.
“Fishermen have been forced into each other’s waters. It is a very difficult situation and it is not as one-sided as Mr Mathieson makes out.”
