Deadline Extension "Not Good Enough" – Fishupdate.com

Deadline Extension “Not Good Enough” Fishing Monthly Published:  31 July, 2003

SCOTTISH Conservative Fisheries spokesman Ted Brocklebank said today that Fisheries Minister Ross Finnie’s decision to extend the 10million transitional aid deadline did not go far enough.

“I am glad that the Minister listened to my appeal for an extension two weeks ago, however his announcement does not go far enough.It is in the Autumn and Winter months that those fishermen who remain in the fleet need this transitional aid,but even under these revamped plans the money will have disappeared by then.To make matters worse, this comes on top of the fact that the original announcement was already delayed until around a month ago. It is simply not enough time for these men to take a decision which has such a massive impact on their families and their livelihoods.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 a much longer 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 weighted 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 our fishermen as much as possible.”