Mounting Anger Over Danish Catcher Claims – Fishupdate.com

Mounting Anger Over Danish Catcher Claims Fishing Monthly Published:  09 December, 2002

FOLLOWING reports of the arrest of two Danish industrial vessels for alleged illegal fishing of white fish, Scottish nationalist Shadow Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead has called on Scottish Fisheries Minster Ross Finnie to carry out a full investigation into the incident, and, if the reports are confirmed, to raise it at the highest European level.

Speaking in Aberdeen, the SNP MSP commented:”We have just confirmed with Danish authorities in Thyboron Port in Denmark that the boats have indeed been arrested.If reports are to be believed then these two boats combined took around 625 tonnes of white fish from one trip.That’s more than some Scottish boats catch in a year.

“We have been told by a source in the port that the boats have been ordered as punishment to tie up in harbour for a month, but that they don’t care because it is Christmas. A Scottish boat would be facing a fine of up to 50,000 pounds.

“There is no better illustration of why Scots fishermen are so angry and disillusioned when they are bending over backwards to conserve fish stocks while foreign vessels fishing alongside them are hoovering the seas clean of juvenile white fish.”