Scotland & N.Ireland Aberdeen Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre HM Coastguard 4th Floor Marine House Blaikies Quay ABERDEEN AB11 5PB Tel: 01224 592334 Fax: 01224 575920 Belfast Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre HM Coastguard Bregenz House Quay Street BANGOR?Co.Down BT20 5ED Tel: 028 9146 3933 Fax: 028 9146 5886 Clyde Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre HM Coastguard Navy [...]

to wear lifejackets as fewer than 2.5% of shore anglers wear them when fishing according to research carried out by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency. The agency is advising all anglers, whether they practice their sport from the sea, on rocks or shore, to carry and wear a lifejacket when near the sea. Richard Jackson, [...]

by storing the number of a emergency contact person(s) under the name ‘ICE’ ( In Case Of Emergency). Many anglers carry mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but who should be called  if they were to be involved in an accident or be taken ill.? Yes, there are hundreds of numbers [...]

No doubt thanks to the level of feeling, political pressure and maybe even a bit of common sense as the EU admit “Recreational Fishing has exploded in the media and dominates all discussion on the proposal. What the Commission is proposing is not clear from the text.” Consequently several amendments to Article 47 are expected, [...]

Vacancies for IFG (Inshore Fisheries Group) Coordinators in the Clyde, South East and Outer Hebrides have been announced by Seafish but the salaries of up to £31,680 will be paid by the Scottish government. According to the job spec IFGs aim to improve the management of Scotland’s inshore fisheries out to 6nm and to give [...]

The Scottish Government has issued a Statutory Instrument (SSI) which prohibits all fishing for sea fish within Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran, regardless of the method of fishing employed. This constitutes a ‘No Take Zone’. The SSI No 317/2008 is entitled The Inshore Fishing (Prohibition on Fishing) (Lamlash Bay) (Scotland) Order 2008 can be found [...]

At a recent meeting with industry representatives officials stated the Government would proceed carefully and thoroughly and indicated that there was no question of the UK Government agreeing to a target of 30% or any other arbitrary percentage of the marine environment to be set aside as marine protection zones. The powers to establish MCZs [...]

Asked about Article 47 a Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have made it clear that we believe that the Common Fisheries Policy will never provide the ideal means of managing Scottish fisheries – and the last thing we need is further complications. We should be trying to loosen the CFP’s grip on our fisheries, not [...]

“We also need to ensure greater involvement by all stakeholders, not just fishermen, in decision-making. The Regional Advisory Councils are one of the successes of the 2002 reform, and we need to develop them further in order to ensure that our stakeholder consultation is truly a broad-based exercise. ” – said Mr Borg in a [...]