Mr Portus, who is also Chief Executive of the South Western Fish Producer Organisation said that his meeting would be very much in the context of the UK network of fish producer groupings and how the fuel issue was affecting their members.

He added that the fishing industry was facing a battle for survival based on "harsh economics."

And he said that the consumer was bound to be tempted to source cheaper protein food at a time when fishermen needed as high a return as possible for their raw material because of the price of fuel.

"Now I have ben invited to meet Mr Shaw in London to discuss the fuel crisis and see what can be done about it."

Mr Portus said he knew Mr Shaw had also been consulting other industry groups including the NFFO.

Earlier this week Mr Shaw came under fire from the UK Independence Party for failing to take action to ease the fuel issue.

The Scottish Government has already announced help with other costs in a bid to offset fuel bills and set up a special task force.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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