Scots fishing sector faces many challenges, says industry leader. David Milne, the Chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association (SWFPA) says many challenges lie ahead for the Scottish catching sector, including the high cost of fuel and marketing difficulties.
Setting out his thoughts ahead for the 2024 fishing year, he said:
“With small increases in several catching opportunities the year showed so much promise, yet factors such as the continuing high cost of fuel, the low price received for small fish, high interest rates and the poor showing of prawns on the grounds meant the prosperous year many hoped for just hasn’t materialised.
“The small increases in the share of the TACs post Brexit continues to deliver relatively little additional opportunities into the demersal sector and remains an area of immense disappointment for our members. However, there are other areas of the catching sector where immense windfalls have occurred and I believe it is now incumbent on a responsible government to ensure these windfalls are used to deliver equity and balance elsewhere.
“We welcome the new approach to what is now classed as Northern Cod, although in line with the Northern Fishing Alliance, we believe there was no clear rational to step back from agreeing a TAC aligned to the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) approach. It is our clear hope that information on catches from the southern sub stock are compiled and assessed in the year ahead, and any uncertainty around northerly mixing and level of catches resolved.
“The poor price at auction for small fish remains a clear concern for our members. The largest quota for the Scottish demersal fleet is haddock and the price at auction is very often less than what it costs to catch them. It very much becomes an issue of market failure as opposed to the impact of oversupply. The reasons behind the situation would seem to be a shortage of processing labour just as it is for other food producing sectors. The catching sector is no different as we now have a high reliance on non-UK crew.
“The short-term solution may lie in machine filleting and selling the product to the frozen block market, although it’s unlikely that such initiatives will deliver the good prices previously enjoyed by the fishermen. However, any uplift in price is welcome.
“The solution to the small haddock issue would be helped, although not entirely solved, by greater selectivity. It makes clear sense, for several reasons, to leave fish in the sea longer before harvest, which puts a clear emphasis on being more selective throughout the fishing operation.
“As we piece together our new catching policies there is a real opportunity to take a new and refreshing approach to how we manage our fisheries, which includes the technical aspects that would help improve selectivity.
“As we look forward to 2024 its clear that we have more fish to catch than we had in the year we are leaving behind, which is always a good thing. But as we have witnessed, having opportunities to catch doesn’t always translate into economic prosperity. All the important tangential issues such as those mentioned earlier need to align to make it a year to remember for the right reasons.”
Photo courtesy: SWFPA