Belief that haddock quota will be undershot is "premature" – Fishupdate.com
Belief that haddock quota will be undershot is “premature” Published: 24 August, 2006
Haddock catching tends to pick up towards the end of the year
A PREDICTION that this year’s depleted North Sea haddock fishery wil not be fully taken up was questioned today.
Earlier this week, Iain MacSween, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation, said that the industry would not net its entitlement, given the rate of catching.
To do so, would mean a doubling of the rate of catching from now until mid-December which was not going to happen.
Basically there were 17 catching weeks left until mid December and catching would need to rise to 1200 tonnes a week on average.
But Mike Park, the executive chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association, said today that predicting an undershoot of quota could send out the wrong messages to skippers who had been exercising good housekeeping practices in relation to keeping the fishery going.
He said haddock catching tended to pick up towards the end of the year and there had already been indications of that this week at Peterheasd.
“But in the meantime I would be concerned that fishermen would accept what I feel is a premature prediction that the quota will not be taken and will accordingly be tempted to fish all out and abandon the good housekeeping position they have adopted to date.”
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