Ahead of its important committee meetings on Tuesday this week, the Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA) says it is becoming increasingly concerned for the economic well-being of its members.  The on-going output of the Cod Recovery Plan dictates that in 2012 Scottish vessels targeting whitefish will receive 90 days at sea, 15% fewer on average than they received in the current year, and due to the inflexibility of the regulation the number of days at sea a Scottish Nephrops vessel will receive is set to reduce by 29% to 100 days.

SWFPA Chief Executive Mike Park said “flaws in the current plan have been recognised by many including the European Commission themselves. The North Sea and North West Waters Regional Advisory Councils have repeatedly criticised the automaticity of the reductions in days at sea where there would seem to be no clear recognition or understanding of the net benefit other than to reduce effort must be a good thing.  Disappointingly, the only obstacle to change seems to be a political process that is too cumbersome for speedy revision”.

SWFPA is clear in its denunciation of this latest round of cuts. Association Chairman, David Milne commented “any measure that takes business to the very brink of financial failure for no other reason than the system itself is incapable of change   highlights the main weakness of the regime we operate within. The Cod Plan set out to recover cod not destroy business; some of our members hardly see a cod yet they have to take the same penalty as those that do, and those that are seeing cod try to avoid them as much as they can. This madness has to stop; it is becoming  increasingly more difficult  to expect fishermen to respect a plan that doesn’t respect them and their business”.

SWFPA say they will await the outcome of their meetings before discussing the next steps with Government. Mike Park said “in the meantime we will continue to develop initiatives that reduce the capture of cod and other unwanted catches. Scottish fishermen have led the field in developing new innovative measures to reduce the capture of cod;  what we now require is a management regime that respects those developments and the role that Scottish fishermen  are playing to bring change”.

Contact:

Mike Park

CEO

SWFPA

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Mob: 07710504773

David Milne

Chairman

SWFPA

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Mob: 07831354630