Responding to the Marine Bill proposals, George MacRae, the secretary of the Scottish White Fish Producers' Association (SWFPA) and Mike Park, the association's executive chairman say this view is based on the long history of commercial fishing which has " enhanced the marine environment in many ways" and the "legitimate"expectations of the industry to operate commercially to harvest a national resource in the public interest.

From a fishing perspective, they say, it is clear and obvious that the management of the marine environment out to 200 miles from the Scottish coastline should be devolved to Edinburgh from Westminster. However,the Bill proposes for Scotland that the marine area from 12 nautical miles out to 200 nautical miles will be within the jurisdiction of the new Marine Management Organisation (“MMO”) created within the Bill.Meanwhile, the industry is "especially dismayed" at the proposal that Defra hands over to the MMO all of its powers and responsibilities for the management of UK fish quota, fishing licences,fishing effort and gear technology and other issues. "Such action will almost certainly have a detrimental effort on the commercial value of the rights associated with each of fish quota, licences and fishing effort if prospective purchasers, leasees and lenders consider that total or even largely environmental control of these commercial issues will prevail even in the short term." Future investment in the industry both on and offshore will be prejudiced if the future of the industry is to be secondary to that of environmental issues. Little or no thought, they say, appears to have been given to these issues or to the interests of the fishing industry generally in the drafting of the Bill. Accordingly, SWFPA is concerned that the environmental emphasis given to the management structure proposed within the Marine Bill is unfairly biased towards environmental issues and almost seems to assume that problems within the marine environment are mainly caused as a result of fishing activity. "Such a position is unsubstantiated and unsound with SWFPA requiring clear and public support within the Marine Bill for the future of the industry." They contend that an objective reader of the draft Marine Bill can clearly see that the Bill is geared towards protection of the marine environment according to environmental criteria emanating either from Brussels in terms of guidelines or directives allied to additional initiatives taken again from largely an environmental perspective within the UK. However, environmental/environmentalist principles cannot and must not be promoted in isolation from economic/social/community activities. There are a number of issues which clearly show that at all times as a minimum an effective balance has to be struck between environmentalist and economic/social interests but in others a preferential presumption must be given to long established marine use such as commercial fishing.

The equation often quoted by the fishing industry that it works to achieve is that fishermen wish sufficient quota to catch, sufficient time within which to catch that quota allied to the use of gear/technology that enables them to catch that quota most efficiently. However, these requirements must be balanced with the need to protect the marine environment including encouraging the conservation and indeed regeneration of all fish stocks. It is well recognised within Europe that Scotland and its fishermen are at the top of any league geared to developing and maintaining their existing fishing activities but balancing these with the need for environmental/stock conservation/regeneration whilst exercising a preference for the continuation/development of commercial fishing based on a legitimate expectation built up over generations."The devolution of marine management out to 200 nautical miles around our Scottish coasts thus becomes ever more compelling but although there have been views to the contrary it does appear from the initial wording in the Marine Bill that there could well be conflict in a number of areas beyond 12 nautical miles around the Scottish coasts where most of the Scottish fish catching capacity operates. This conflict could arise between the policy actions proposed by the MMO to be set up in the Marine Bill and the Administration in Edinburgh charged with the responsibility of managing Scottish fisheries and fishermen wherever they operate whether out to 200 nautical miles or otherwise.

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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