SFF LOOKS FORWARD TO ENGAGEMENT WITH NEW UK GOVERNMENT

SFF looks forward to engagement with new UK Government on fisheries issues

Scottish fishermen are ready to engage with the newly elected UK Government and new MPs on pressing issues, industry leaders indicated today.

SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald said: “We will continue to work with both governments north and south of the border. While most domestic fisheries management is devolved to Holyrood, there are other matters within reserved UK competence, and we look forward to working with the new UK Government on these.

“We also look forward to building relationships with Scotland’s new MPs as well as working with those who will continue to represent Scottish interests at Westminster.”

SFF has been active in the run-up to the election, holding a hustings with candidates from five parties in Edinburgh and taking our fishing pledge around key coastal and island constituencies to garner candidates’ support for our industry.

It is now looking to those incoming MPs and Ministers to support Scotland’s fishing sector, in line with its manifesto asks:

• Protect and improve the UK’s status as an independent coastal state – at the end of the TCA’s Adjustment Period on fisheries, prioritise unconditional control of access to UK waters and fishing opportunities based on zonal attachment of stocks.
• Ensure no regression on what is already secured, in particular the right for the UK to determine its own fisheries management arrangements in UK waters.
• Continue the development of Fisheries Management Plans, co-designed with the fishing sector and other key stakeholders.
• Ensure that fishing is properly protected in our increasingly crowded seas – striking the right balance between conservation and sustainable harvesting, and ensuring that the UK has food security as well as energy security. Where impacts on fishing cannot be avoided or mitigated, ensure there is appropriate compensation to fishing.
• Deliver a workable immigration system that is designed to meet the needs of businesses when labour needs cannot be met by UK/Scottish workers.

Ms Macdonald added: “We will be seeking early meetings with incoming Ministers and new MPs on these as we seek to secure the sector’s position as part of Scotland and UK’s food security and route map to net zero, producing climate-smart, healthy and nutritious food from sustainable and naturally renewable resources.”

Source