071009 – SSACN attended the Meeting of UK fisheries ministers , Fisheries Industries leaders and Environmentalists held today at Murrayfield Stadium Edinburgh.

The meeting began prior to lunch with Bertie Armstrong jocularly denying any rift between Fisheries leaders and WWF & RSPB as reported in this article in the Press and Journal.

After lunch the meeting got underway with Minister Irranca-Davis re-arranging the seating arrangements from a theatre setting to a round table set up to allow delegates to see who was speaking at any time, avoiding the them & us scenario.

The UK Minister Huw Irranca-Davis stated during the meeting that regarding the cod recovery plan substantial changes would not be possible to achieve.

A new process was outlined within the EU Fisheries talks – quotas will now be discussed separately from technical issues, though this may be delayed as the Lisbon Treaty has yet to be ratified by the Czech republic.

Scottish Fisheries Minister Lochhead said that 2009 has been a difficult year for the catching sector and the socio-economic impact has been significant.

This observation was borne out by all the fisheries delegates who spoke at the meeting, each one outlining that the swingeing cuts proposed would put the less strong fishing businesses in a position where they would have to quit the industry.

There was a general consensus from the industry that the plan of using multi-year rather than one year plans being proposed by the UK Government was not seen as the solution.

As one delegate pointed out – bills need to be paid on time, there is no multi-annual plan for these, our creditors will call them in, they will take the boat off you.

On the Conservation side, Ali Hood delivered a joint statement on behalf of the Shark Trust and SSACN asking the Ministers to agree with the proposed zero TAC on spurdog (with a minimal bycatch allowance) and retain the 100cm MlS; and also that Angel sharks should be afforded the same status as Basking sharks.

Strangely enough contrary to the above mentioned report from the P & J neither WWF or RSPB who were represented at the meeting, made any statements.

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