Committee Warned Of Quota Cuts Impact – Fishupdate.com
Committee Warned Of Quota Cuts Impact Fishing Monthly Published: 11 February, 2003
MSPs were warned today of the serious impact of fishing cuts on the economy and communities in the North-east of Scotland.
Councillor Raymond Bisset, chair of the North East Scotland Fisheries Development Partnership( NESFDP) and Aberdeenshire Council convener told the Scottish Parliaments rural affairs committee at Aberdeens Town House this afternoon that the crisis facing the fishing industry was all too real.
Councillor Bisset said: It needs to be made clear that the whole of the North-east will be affected not just those directly involved in fishing. If you take into account that Fraserburgh has 58% of the working population dependent on the fishing industry then you can appreciate the kind of knock-on effect there could be.
He went on to say that the Scottish Executive aid proposed in terms of £40 million to decommission 160 boats is not the way forward.
There should be more moves to help the industry over what we hope is a temporary hump and not by removing more boats out of an already depleted fleet.
He added that the £10 million of transitional funding appears to be going exclusively to the catching sector with nothing to the onshore related industries.
There will be major ramifications to local councils and enterprise trusts regards help to onshore industries. It is vital the government provides money to these as they are going to be seriously affected by the reductions in fishing capacity.