A ‘Fishing Effort Factsheet’ released by the European Commission has stated that fleets across Europe need to shrink further to ensure sustainable fishing.
It calls on countries across Europe to continue reducing their fleet numbers, yet Scottish fleets have decreased by 60 per cent in recent years.
Moreover, recent reports have also shown that, in waters fished by Scottish vessels, overfished stocks had fallen from 32 out of 34 in 2004, to only 18 out of 38 last year.
Scottish Conservative environment spokesman, Jamie McGrigor MSP, says: ‘No-one has done more for the health of Europe’s fishing stocks than Scottish fishermen.
‘For years they have made sacrifice after sacrifice, but that has certainly not been the case in other European countries.
‘We’ve done our bit, and that should be appreciated by the European Commission.
‘It does nothing for the confidence of our hardworking fishermen to read that decision makers hundreds of miles away are calling for even more reductions.
‘Why should years of hard work be overlooked in favour of those who have done nothing? It is completely unfair.’
Note: The full EC Fishing Effort Factsheet can be downloaded from here.
Jamie McGrigor can say what he likes. At the end of the day every British politician of whatever wing or political persuasion just rolls over when the EUssr says jump/cut/share/spend etc etc
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