Finnie to ask for more days at sea for white fish fleet – Fishupdate.com

Finnie to ask for more days at sea for white fish fleet Published:  28 May, 2004

Ross Finnie, the Scottish fisheries minister, has finally asked for more days at sea for the Scots white fish fleet, it has been revealed.

The move was confirmed in a Scottish parliamentary answer to the SNP.

Finnie wrote: “We have recently written to the European Commission about the case for those fishing for North Sea haddock under special permit arrangements to be permitted additional days at sea to do so. We await a response and will be following up in meetings planned shortly with the Commission.”

Commenting, SNP shadow fishing minister Richard Lochhead said: “It is incredible that it has taken so long for the Government to get round to asking for more days at sea for the white fish fleet that has been halved over the last two years. It has taken almost six months for them to realise that 15 days a month at sea is simply insufficient for the fleet.”

He added: “It was absurd for ministers to sign on the dotted line for the agreement in Brussels that offered the fleet no reward whatsoever for going through a second decommissioning scheme in as many years.”