Following a meeting with the Scottish Fishermen's Federation in Aberdeen, Mr Lochhead announced that the Scottish Government would:

*establish a Task Force to quickly bring forward steps to help the industry

*provide immediate help to offset fuel costs, including £400,000 for the annual maintenance costs of life rafts on every vessel in Scotland and £300,000 for the cost of the warranties vessels must pay on their satellite monitoring equipment

*seek a meeting with the UK Government to discuss wider issues of the impact of fuel prices

*continue to press the European Union to ensure a level playing field on subsidies

*work with the industry to develop a fuel efficiency scheme

Mr Lochhead said:

"The fishing industry and I share concerns about the serious situation facing fishermen in these times of ever increasing fuel prices. That is why I have today agreed immediate action to both address short term issues and look for long term solutions.

"The fishing industry is of vital importance to people and communities throughout Scotland. We need to make sure that we do not allow the renewed confidence that has developed in the industry over the last year to be undermined.

"We must work with both the UK and European Governments to help our fishermen in these difficult times. I want the Task Force to be radical in its thinking so we can all ensure a sustainable and profitable future for the Scottish fisheries sector."

The Task Force will report by the end of August on steps to be taken in response to the fuel price increases and by the end of February on longer term issues.

The membership and remit of the Task Force will be agreed at the Scottish Fisheries Council meeting on May 13.

The fuel efficiency scheme will be available from early September.

Earlier,the Minister was warned the sky-high price of fuel could result in Scottish fishermen losing key quotas and catching opportunities to foreign fishing fleets.

For with Scottish boats unable to put to sea because of soaring fuel costs, the resultant failure of Scotland to fully catch its share of fish could result in the future reallocation of quotas by the EU to subsidised foreign fleets.

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said after the meeting: "As we expected, we got a sympathetic hearing and we left the Cabinet Secretary in no doubt as to the situation facing us.At the meeting we went round the table and association representatives both from right round the coast and from the islands showed that no one is being left untouched by the high fuel costs.

"This an immediate threat to viability so we have a problem there."

Mr Armstrong said they had hoped for some concrete indication of Government goodwill and they had got that through the liferaft and warranties measures.

"We made our case clear and the situation is stark.Fuel has increased in price by 40% from January to now and we are in a circumstance where there is no real prospect of fuel costs coming down."

Earlier Mr Armstrong said the obvious question is why fishing should be more deserving of support compared with other industry sectors such as road haulage.

“The answer lies in the unique nature of the industry. We are stewards of the sea, harvesting a natural and renewable resource that is allocated to the UK. If we fail to take our share because Scottish boats can’t afford to put to sea or are put out of business, then someone else will take our fish.”

Mr Armstrong said the fleet's fundamental ability to stay in business and net its rightful share of fish stocks had been thrown into question by an oil price that was forecast to rise still further.

The federation also warn that an EU proposal is currently on the table advocating any unused quota from one member state to be allocated to other member states, raising the real fear of Scotland losing valuable catching opportunity if it is unable to take its allocation.

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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