I NOTE with interest your article referring to the proposed Firth of Clyde Regulating Order submitted by the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (Sift) (“We are being regulated into extinction, warn fishermen”, The Herald, November 23).
Far from posing a threat to the fishery, our proposal would stem its decline. The Clyde once hosted a rich mixed fishery for cod, whiting and herring. Now 99 per cent of the value of its landings (largely prawns and scallops) are shellfish. Such over-dependence on just two stocks is bad for economic security. Sift’s proposal for zones where trawlers and dredgers cannot work will not only provide areas where stocks of finfish can build up, but will also enable shellfish numbers to grow. What we propose is 21st century fishery management that brings internationally proven techniques to the firth, creating zones where the seabed and its fish stocks can recover and devolving control to local people. It also addresses long-standing challenges like gear conflict between trawler-men and creelers.
It is for that reason that the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation – which comprises some 75 per cent of the Scottish fleet – said that the regulating order “offers our industry a chance to thrive and grow, and to have our say in the management of the Clyde. It would significantly reduce the gear conflict that costs creelers dear, and would allow creel fishermen to operate on a level playing field.”
As the Clyde is a public asset, it is also important that new regulation enables management for the benefit of all communities – not just for one section of the commercial fishery. Many thousands of residents in the Clyde area have already signed their support for the Revive the Clyde campaign that calls for precisely the sorts of measures that the regulating order proposes.
Charles Millar,
Executive director, Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, Rose Street, Edinburgh.
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