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.

Harbour cash could be huge for Fife’s fishing and tourism sectors

Tom Mackenzie has welcomed news of cash for dredging at Pittenweem and Anstruther harbours.
Tom Mackenzie has welcomed news of cash for dredging at Pittenweem and Anstruther harbours.

A cash injection into two Fife harbours has been hailed as hugely significant for the region’s fishing and tourism industries.

Around £485,000 is to be ploughed into dredging work at both Pittenweem and Anstruther over the next two years.

A further £80,000 has been set aside in Fife’s capital plan for a new ice plant at Pittenweem to replace the current facility which has been beset by constant breakdowns.

Tom Mackenzie, from the Fife Fisherman’s Association, explained fishermen are currently limited as to how long they can spend at sea as the build-up of silt cuts down the hours the harbours can be safely accessed.

“This money is going to mean a long overdue dredge for the harbours, and a replacement for the current ice plant at Pittenweem is also well overdue,” he commented.

“The harbour at Pittenweem hasn’t been properly dredged for nearly 20 years – it has had temporary dredges using a blower but that has just moved the silt from one place to another.

“So this is really good news, and it also means that boats can get a couple of extra hours’ fishing in. As for the ice plant, we need to ice all of our prawns before we put them away so for us especially it’s a necessity.”

The council’s capital plan, which was recently signed off, will see £135,000 invested in the coming financial year, with a further £350,000 earmarked for dredging in 2018/19.

Liberal Democrat East Neuk Councillor Elizabeth Riches said local people had been lobbying for the harbour investment for some time and will be pushing transportation officers to let tenders for the important dredging work.

“In order to carry out a proper dredging boats may need to be moved but this inconvenience will bring worthwhile improvements,” she noted.

“I can appreciate the continued frustration for harbour users and will be asking for work to start on applying for the necessary consents and licences for dumping silt etc,

“The setting up costs of any tender dredging can be very costly and we need to see if savings can be made.

“But the importance of attractive working harbours is essential, also to continue to draw and welcome tourists to the East Neuk.

“No-one would come to visit a dead, silted up harbour.”