Aid Extension Must Come Now – Fishupdate.com

Aid Extension Must Come Now Fishing Monthly Published:  17 July, 2003

SCOTTISH Conservative Fisheries Spokesman, Ted Brocklebank has urged Rural Affairs Minister, Ross Finnie, to act now to extend Scotland’s #10 million transitional aid period to the

end of the year.

The MSP said:”The present situation with transitional aid is totally

unacceptable. It is in the Autumn and Winter months that those

fishermen who remain in the fleet need this transitional aid,

but under the current plans the money will have disappeared by then.

“I can foresee that by the end of the Summer, the already

depleted fish quotas will have been used up which will force

fishermen to tie-up in any case. The need, therefore, for an

extension to the transitional aid period is vital and would

appear to me to be pure common sense.

“We have always said that the so-called fishing recovery plan

was waited too heavily towards decommissioning with not enough

of the money being allocated to transitional aid. However, we

have what we have and we need to at least make the transitional

money help of fishermen as much as possible. I urge Ross

Finnie to extend this aid now before a grave situation becomes

even worse.”