It’s a great pleasure to be here today in Ullapool and to be addressing this conference that marks the beginning of the Ullapool Fish Week 2004.
I would like to thank the Ullapool Tourism and Business Association for all the efforts they have put in to make this conference happen and of course the Sunday Herald for their sponsorship.
As the organisers have said, this week gives us an opportunity for a reality check. It brings together all those of us with an interest in maintaining an economically viable Scottish fishing industry that both sustains local communities today but also safeguards and protects the environment and fish stocks for tomorrow.
I am sure we all share the goal of a modern and vibrant industry that respects traditions but recognises the need for fresh thinking and new ways of management.
This conference brings together politicians like me, with the fishermen and boat owners, with anglers and ecologists, with fish growers and fishsellers and all those who have a stake in the coastal communities in Scotland.
The input of all of the groups represented here is essential if we are to come up with the answer the questions that the 21st century is posing for the industry.
How can we ensure a sustainable and economically viable industry, both farmed and wild?
How can we best manage our fish stocks? What is the correct role of the European Union in this and can we succeed in reforming the Common Fisheries Policy so that it is sensitive to local communities?
It is fair to say that most of us here recognise that the CFP has been a quite disastrous failure, not only here is Scotland, but across Europe.
It has failed to protect our fish stocks, failed to protect our fishing industry and failed fishing communities.
We should not underestimate the size of the problems, especially for the sea fishing industry.
Employment in sea fishing in Scotland has dropped by 30% since 1992.
Quotas for the major catches drop year on year – since 1998, the tonnage of cod landings in Scotland has dropped by 60% and Haddock by 38%.
The statistics for farmed fish are of course much healthier, but the sector remains small and Scottish fish farms under a great deal of pressure caused in part by the recent dumping of cheap imports from Norway and others.
We shouldn’t be distracted by talk of either/or when it come to farmed vs. sea fishing.
The goal of course should be for these industries to exist side by side. Employing locally, selling internationally, generating wealth for Scottish communities, and building a sustainable fishing industry for the future.
The Common Fisheries Policy requires radical reform if it is to survive.
No doubt we will here many different views here today about how to get the best for Scotland out of the CFP.
I am not one of those who advocates at this stage a complete withdrawal from the CFP. In an interdependent world, we require the kind of rules-based, legal framework that the CFP ought to provide, if we are to ensure that stocks are well managed. But central control from Brussels is clearly not working.
The recent reforms of the CFP have produced improvements but genuinely effective management of stocks, for the benefit of local industry and local communities, will only be achieved if the management of the CFP is devolved so that fishermen, regulators and scientists work together in partnership in regional management councils.
The introduction of Regional Advisory Councils is a small step forward, but without genuine decision-making power, their impact in local communities is likely to be slow and insufficient.
Of course the Advisory Councils should have the opportunity to prove their worth. The bringing together of fishermen, scientists and regulators ought to provide a forum for real debate.
But real solutions will only be achieved when these Councils have the power to implement and manage agreements to the benefit of all local stakeholders.
I would like to see other reforms too - quotas replaced by licenses to fish for certain species in certain areas awarded according to the principle of relative stability; A much more robust system of policing and penalties between members of the CFP so that there is a level playing field.
With all the controversy about the new EU Constitution we should bear in mind, that by enshrining the principle of subsidiarity at the heart of the Union’s processes, reform of the CFP and, indeed, further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, ought to become that bit easier.
The management of fishing policy is a prime example of where subsidiarity can be enforced.
A Europe-wide strategy best delivered by regional management.
And that includes conservation as well.
The current consultation by the Scottish Executive on the management of Scotland’s coastline is welcome.
I am all for the creation of marine national parks, locally managed for the conservation of marine resources. Fair Isle is clearly a strong candidate for such an approach.
The Executive is also beginning to act to get to grips with the problems for the inshore fishing industry with the introduction of a bill next year that will deal with aquaculture, inshore fisheries and shellfish farming.
The development of plans for local control over inshore fishing has been long in coming. But I hope that when we see the draft legislation, it will go some way to dealing with the problems being faced, especially by the prawn and shellfish fisheries of the North West Highlands.
But through all the reforms we will hear proposed today I hope that we will keep the conservation of the marine environment foremost our minds.
Sustainability must be the key. We should not be seduced into believing that quick fixes for immediate profitability are the answer. That is a false-economy.
What can appear superficially attractive in the short-term, may not pass the test of holding in trust the environment we enjoy for future generations.
Thank you
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