CHARLES Millar (Letters, November 25) is being somewhat disingenuous when he claims that the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation represents “some 75 per cent of the Scottish fleet” as part of his justification for the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (Sift) imposing upon our hardworking Clyde fishermen an unproven fisheries management regime they don’t want (letters 25 November).
According to Scottish Government statistics, creel vessels account for around 63 per cent of the total number of vessels in the fleet, and of course, because these are typically small one-man vessels, this sector employs many times fewer people than the larger mobile sector of the fleet – including in the Firth of Clyde.
Notwithstanding that point, and as a federation that has both mobile gear and creel vessels in its membership, we recognise the importance of having the right management measures in place to ensure our fleet thrives across a broad spectrum of fishing methods.
Such sustainable management also needs to have the support of our fishing communities, something which is patently not the case with the Sift proposal for a regulating order in the Clyde, which will only destroy fishing jobs. The opposition to the regulating order proposal is intense in many Clyde communities, as illustrated by the local meetings currently being hosted by the Clyde Fishermen’s Association.
It should also be noted that as a federation we have consistently supported Marine Protected Areas as long as they are designated on an evidential basis and managed in a well-balanced manner.
Bertie Armstrong,
Chief executive, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen.
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