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STEPHEN Lockwood, chairman of the Marine Protection Zone Fishing coalition, has set out his views on protecting the marine environment while respecting the needs of the fishing industry.
Speaking at a recent EU Green Week Conference, he described how he first went to sea as a schoolboy on a commercial trawler in 1962. "That trip gave me what proved an first insight to what has proved an enduring fascination with commercial fishing,and provided a career in marine fisheries and environmental management."
He added: "Over the past 40 plus years I have undertaken research on inshore fishery ecology and carried out commercial fish-stock assessments but for the past quarter century my attention has focussed on the fishery aspects of coastal zone management."
He said to many people a fishing boat was just a fishing boat, but nothing could be further from the truth, adding that the fishing industry was familiar and comfortable with the notion of restricted areas when rationally and fully explained. "The industry has a wealth of information and data that can contribute to improved site selection, designation and management.
"There is an urban myth that the North Sea is trawled over more than three times every year. This is patent nonsense. It is possible, however, that annual trawling activity in the North Sea covers an area equivalent to three times the area of the North Sea. This is an important distinction as some favoured fishing positions may be fished two, three or even four hundred times each year."
Mr Lockwood said that of equal importance in the context of MPA site selection, it should be demonstrated that there are areas in which skippers’ interest is one of absolute avoidance. On closer inspection of these track records, it is often found that the areas avoided are those that are of particular nature conservation interest –the reefs of Eddystone Bay, for example.
He concluded: "It was data such as these were used by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and the statutory conservation body for Scotland – Scottish Natural Heritage – not only to refine and define site boundaries that minimised the restrictions on the industry around Stanton Banks, but also brought to light features of which SNH were previously unaware."
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
