EU: give us an answer, say skippers – Fishupdate.com

EU: give us an answer, say skippers Published:  13 February, 2004

GETTING a controversial North Sea catch regulation sorted out is now a matter of extreme urgency, a fishermen’s leader said today.

Alex Smith, the president of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said the federation had decided to meet with legal counsel with a view to moving forward the federation’s legal challenge to the new EC rules as quickly as possible. He said: “The reality is that unless things change, we only have 5700 tonnes of haddock to be caught without a permit and half of that has been caught already. Therefore, there needs to be an significant adjustment made to this situation sooner rather than later.”

Smith said the best thing that could happen from the federation’s point of view was that if no reasonable adjustments in the regime are forthcoming quickly, it should be suspended. That was why they were trying to move their legal action forward with a view to achieving this.