Scotland’s white fish and prawn fleets are teetering on the brink, an organisation representing Fife’s East Neuk fishermen has warned.
The Fife Fishermen’s Mutual Association (Pittenweem) Limited (FMA) has backed the concerns of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), which has claimed the country’s fleet is “ensnared in a web of dysfunctional regulations and restrictions”.
In a letter to the Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead, SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong said the restrictions imposed are being further compounded by a depression in the seafood market.
He said: “At its most fundamental, the problem lies in the absence of a gap between income achieved for fish at landing and the operating costs of getting them there.
“The gap in fish abundance encountered by fishermen at sea and the constraints of the present technical regulations and quotas is hugely frustrating.”
His comments came despite a recent European deal which saw no further cuts to fishermen’s days at sea this year, leaving them with effectively the same deal as they had last year.
The talks also resulted in increased quotas for west of Scotland prawns of 18%. Mr Armstrong said this was “jam tomorrow” with no relief for fishermen today.
He said: “These conditions, therefore, threaten the survival of large sections of the whitefish and prawn fleets and I do not believe this is an overstatement.
“Perhaps worst of all, there will be no fishing capacity left to accommodate the fruits of all the sacrifice and effort when the greatly increased catches start to become available.
“This represents a classic case of the need for transitional aid.”
A spokesman for the Fife FMA told The Courier: “I would think that most of our fishermen will agree with all these comments.”
“In Pittenweem we as a fishing village are fighting exactly what these people are saying rules and regulations. The Fife fishing industry of course has a particular problem because we now only catch prawns.”
It is now more than 10 years since white fish were landed at Pittenweem. Prawns, crabs, scallops, lobsters, clams and razor fish have taken their place
In Fife there are now less than 30 prawn boats operating out of Pittenweem Harbour, landing a catch of around £3 to £4 million per annum.
The boats mainly fish within 30 miles of Pittenweem sometimes spending periods off the north-east coast of England or the west coast of Scotland. The main markets for all shellfish is continental Europe.
This is a far cry from the East Neuk fishing fleet of decades ago when Fife harbours were brimming with boats and auctioneers could sell as many as 2,000 boxes of fish.
It is a precarious industry with European Union regulations on conservation of fish stocks often blamed for its general decline.
But for the industry to survive, and indeed thrive, the FMA believes it needs to evolve o make it sustainable and to achieve that it needs Scottish Government support.
The FMA spokesman added: “The whole industry is now covered by the cod recovery plan which restrict catches.
“The whole industry is governed by a minefield of regulations.If the Scottish Government really wanted the fishing industry to survive then they could look at helping fishermen through this difficult period.
“Farmers always seem to get support but there’s nothing for fishermen. There’s also never any real attempt to kick back against the EU.
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said he is “keenly aware” of the pressures being faced by the Scottish fleet and was due to meet the SFF and skippers at the Aberdeen Fishing Expo at the end of last week.
Scotland-wide, white fish landings are worth £152m annually while prawn landings bring in £80m.