GREEN Party MSP Robin Harper has called on Scottish Fisheries Minister Ross Finnie to think and act “long term” when it comes to fish stocks. The comment came following Mr Finnie’s pledge to fight the threatened 41% cut in haddock quota.

Mr Harper has placed a motion before the Scottish Parliament calling for the use of a network of closed areas, as has been used in other countries, in order to regenerate fish stocks.

"It is almost beyond comprehension that, with the huge success of 'No Take Zones' in New Zealand, off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, and in the Hebridean Exclusion zone, that this Executive has not accepted the idea as being part of the way forward for the North Sea, if we are being serious about conservation of fish stocks, and not in the game of letting the fishing interests simply fish them out in the next decade,” he said.

“Securing the future of fish stocks will secure the future of fishing communities and we hope that Mr Finnie acts and thinks long term. We hope he will reconsider the use of a network of regeneration areas - something he has unfortunately ruled out in the past."

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish European Fish Trader, Fishing Monthly, Fish Farming Today, 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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