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Scotland 'shaking itself free' of EU fishing quota policy



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RICHARD Lochhead, the environment secretary, said yesterday that ministers hoped to free Scotland from the European Common Fisheries Policy soon.
Mr Lochhead was in Oslo for meetings with the Helga Pederson, the Norwegian fisheries minister, and one of the topics for discussion is alternatives to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) – which sets quotas governing how much EU states are allowed to catch.

Mr Lochhead said: "We are beginning to loosen the shackles of the CFP and soon we hope to shake ourselves free.

"We are establishing an expert panel to promote better models of managing our fisheries for the benefit of the industry, communities and the environment."

A landmark deal, agreed at the EU fisheries negotiations in December, gives Scotland the power to decide how fishing days at sea should be shared out. The agreement allows fishing fleets to boost their livelihoods by monitoring conservation and avoiding dumping dead fish.





The full article contains 159 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 03 March 2008 11:03 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Sea fishing industry
 
1

Ard Righ,

The Rock Of Edinburgh 04/03/2008 00:11:23
Aye its called independence.

Common fisheries policy 1971, Edward Heath signed that one, and independence of the UK and the EU is the solution, man the boats.

About bloody time.
2

Royster,

04/03/2008 04:42:30
#2 Not if you stay within the EU it isn't.
3

Guga II,

Rockall 04/03/2008 05:54:33
It's long past time that we got out of the CFP, and the CAP. In fact, it's long past time that we got out of the EU altogether.
4

Fanling,

Guandong 04/03/2008 07:08:49
Too little, too late. The once great Scottish fishing fleet is yesterday's news. The EU has much to answer for in scuppering livelihoods. In the event of independence, it would be to Scotland's great advantage to sever ties with that irresponsible dictatorship, not only for its fisheries and agricultural policies but for its suicidal immigration policy. Check out prosperous Norway and compare.
5

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 07:47:00
Under the Lisbon treaty the EU will have unlimited control over all "marine biological resources" (the bit in another paragraph about joint EU/national control of fishing is window-dressing). Marine biological resources extend by definition from whales and basking sharks to the last frond of seaweed.

This control, to be exercised from the desk of the Fisheries Commissioner in Brussels, extends from the Baltic through the north-eastern Atlantic, North Sea, Mediterranean, Aegean and Adriatic to the Black Sea. It takes no account of the vast differences in regional fish species, different fishing methods, local consumption patterns, local fisheries culture and local social and employment structures.

In short, it is plain lunacy, an attempt to extend a system that would have been unsuitable for even the original six EEC members to a membership of 27 states on a continental scale. It is impossible to administer, and it is totally unnecessary.

The EU is falling into the same centralist trap that brought down the Soviet Union. Euro-ideology, and the craving for ever more euro-functions, has clearly gained the upper hand over the practical realities of fisheries management and conservation.

The EU system has had a particularly devastating effect on the Scottish economy, with the destruction of two thirds of the offshore fleet and the consequent loss of around a thousand million pounds annually in wealth creation capacity. That must now be made good in its entirety.

6

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 07:47:58
There is no way that the system can be improved, and discussion of technical fishing methods is only a distraction from the underlying strategic thinking that is necessary and long overdue. In any case, the management of individual industries is not a function of the European Union.

Far from having anything to do with conservation or management, the Common Fisheries Policy has proved in practice to be no more than an instrument of political intrigue. Powerful commercial interests, in Spain and France in particular, are in a position to dictate policy to their governments, and regard the CFP simply as their entry ticket to waters they would not normally be allowed to exploit. That is the real core and purpose of the CFP.

When Edward Heath threw the UK fishing industry to the Brussels sharks in 1970 he was well aware that that three quarters of the industry was located in Scotland with its 5 million population, and one quarter in 50-million England, where the Conservative votes were to be found. The Scottish fishing industry was thereby “expendable” as a bargaining counter on other issues, as the notorious entry in the Scottish office records put it. The result was that Brussels cut a swathe of economic, social and cultural devastation through Scotland.

The European Union of today is a vastly different organisation from the one that the SNP voted to join in the dim and distant past. The EU of tomorrow looks like being something even more remote from Scotland’s needs and aspirations. It is time to join forces with Norway, Iceland and the Faeroes in order to protect these needs and aspirations, our whole way of life, and our children’s future.

7

Reckless,

EU soviet 04/03/2008 07:49:07
Rubbish. SNP = pro-EU monions. You can't be independent and remain in the EU.

Only UKIP will save the Scottish fishng industry.
8

,

04/03/2008 07:50:58
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
9

Citylocal Fife,

Citylocal Fife News 04/03/2008 08:11:45
The fishing is just a small part of it all. The EU is grossly inefficient, and the more inefficient it becomes, the more it grows. Dr Wilkie was right when he compared it to the folly of the Soviet Union. A drastic overhaul is long overdue.



Yours etc

Angus Whitton
10

Cauchy Riemann,

Wales 04/03/2008 09:07:02
Good points raised about inefficiency being linked to too much central control.
11

Fanling,

Guangdong 04/03/2008 10:09:32
#5 & 6 Dr James Wilkie

Thanks for your incisive exposition. Unfortunately, most of the Scottish voting public will be blissfully unaware of the backstabbing of Scotland's fishing fleet by the deviously populist Heath and his camp followers. (Pun intended.)

The Scottish fleet was then "expendable", just as other aspects of Scottish life and culture are expendable just as long as it suits the political elite
in the far south, and their disgraceful Scots yes-sir-no-sir dogsbodies.

I am from NE fishing stock and I have witnessed the slow but sure decimation of my heritage, thanks to one pompous English politician and a mafia-like organization that is destined for implosion. As I said at #4 above, an independent Scotland must resist the
undesirable cult of EU membership. The damage it has already done is incalculable.
12

Boggle fey the Bog,

04/03/2008 12:33:13
The fishing industry has been continually and consistently betrayed by successive 'Westminster' governments.

It is a sad state of affairs, that when a country, such as Scotland, which is not only self-sufficient, in the three main stays of society, food, water, and fuel, but regularly produces surpluses, is still being abused by a neighbour, who claims to be our friend and partner, but treats us as 'chattels'.

IMHO the only way forward is complete Independence from the UK and EU.

Then perhaps with the creation of a Northern European Trading Alliance, along with Norway, Eire,The Faroes and Iceland the Northern Nations may be in position to survive and prosper.

After all a very large swathe of the German Ocean is within Norwegian, Scottish and Icelandic 'Waters', and that is where most of the fish are, not to mention the Irish Sea and Eastern Atlantic on the West Coasts of Eire and Scotland, size-able fishing grounds, that should be under local control, and not controlled by and for the enrichment of French or Spanish fishermen.
13

Fanling,

Guangdong 04/03/2008 14:00:39
#12

Salient points there. A Northern European Trading Alliance would seem a pretty sensible alternative to the corrupt Brussels outfit we are presently shackled to. Any such alliance though would and should necessarily be restricted to trade ... whither the European Economic Community and the political monster it has become?
14

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 15:31:37
The northern European trading alliance already exists in the shape of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Norway and Iceland are members of EFTA as well as of the European Economic Area (EEA). Switzerland is also in EFTA; it is not an EEA member, but has concluded separate treaties to much the same effect. All the EU member states are also EEA members, and the non-EU members have full access to the European market and research facilities.

15

The Former Mr. Angry,

Perth 04/03/2008 15:37:27
#12
I agree completely. The concept of "independence in Europe" has always seemed to be a bizarre claim, especially when we know full well the effects on the Scottish fishing industry so far. Iceland provides the best known example of a country keen to protect its domestic waters from being plundered by others who are less scrupulous in the observation of the EU regulations.

As regards the UK, we seem to have plenty of our own domestic brand of corruption without retaining theirs as well! A bit of local control would not go amiss.
16

Resolutions,

04/03/2008 17:14:48
I can hardly see how all the states who are now members of the EU feel that they have given up their Independence, particularly those who have so recently wriggled free from the shackles of their Eastern a9and powerful) neighbour. I reckon they are Inependent in Europe.

But as has been pointed out, there are problems - major problems with the fisheries, but how about laying some of this blame, where it should be, at the door of Westminster. Scotland, with its major fishing industry, was denied a voice by Westminster 'negotiators' for how many years, in fact left our delegation sitting outside. If we had been in there, in our own right, I doubt if the situation would have deteriorated to the extent it has.
Last year, our lot, at last got something - the ability to deal with our allocation of days at sea and some chance to close area to help stocks. A little control was regained. It is perfectly possible to gain more control, 'in our own right'.
Whether you like it or not, we cannot really survive outside the EU as we have an enormous amount of trade there now, but what we need is our own voice in there, speaking up for our interests and working with our European partners as Scotland, not as hanging on to the coat-tails of Big Brother down south, who can kick us off like some pesky dog snapping at their (what they imagine) all powerful heels.
And we cannot get into to have our say on the EU without our own voice!!
17

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 19:14:12
#16 You have not understood the European setup - and indeed it is understandable that most Scots are baffled by its intricacies. All the economic aspects of the EU are covered by the European Economic Area, which is in effect the European Common Market continuing. People must get right out of their heads any idea that membership of the EU is essential for our trade or other economic reason. See also #14 above. The EEA has no CFP or CAP, and issues only a fraction of the maniacal legislation that emerges from the EU, which is by now essentially a political union.

That is the reason why Russia, which is a member of all the other major European organisations (CoE, OSCE, UNECE, etc.), would not touch the EU with a boathook. EEA member Norway has to adhere to the rules of the European market, but it also implements a fair number of other EU regulations - voluntarily - where these are seen to be advantageous.

At the moment the EU has security and financial advantages for the countries of central and eastern Europe - partly at net contributor Scotland's expense. Indeed, south-western Europe, including the Balkans, needs more Europe, not less; but north-western Europe, including Scotland, needs the exact opposite. And "Europe" does not inevitably mean the European Union - don't lose sight of that!

18

Resolutions,

04/03/2008 19:41:29
#17 Please tell me that Austria is no longer an independent country.

I do not care for you claiming that in the set up at present that countries have no say - they do and you know it. Scotland has none. Scotland as in independent member would have a dashed site more say than at present and could add its weight to the NW countries instead of none. It could have the advantage of 'choosing' how to deal with things where advantageous to Scotland and minimising those of the opposite. That is within the EU.
Of course Europe is not the EU alone, but as we stand, shackeled to a southern neighbour, we have no influence at all as we are considered as part of 'England' by so many.
I am only too well aware of the ins and outs of some of the associations and painfully aware of how little Scotland can contribute to these because of a 300 year old association that is well past its sell by date. Scotland needs a voice in its own right, like Estonia, Latvia et all and Iceland and Norway.

Russia would not touch EU because it would not fit in with its ideas of grandeur.
19

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 19:42:53
Sorry, an error. South-EASTERN Europe, including the Balkans, needs more Europe, not less; but north-western Europe, including Scotland, needs the exact opposite.

20

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 04/03/2008 20:08:22
#18 I don't see anything in what I wrote above to the effect that member states have no say within the European Union. Of course they do, at least formally, but when it comes to voting a country of 5 million people will inevitably be outvoted 100 to 1 in a union of 500 millions - especially on the likes of fisheries, where states like Spain and France will inevitably veto any change in the existing setup. Their representatives can do nothing else because of economic and political pressures at home. That is diplomatic reality.

I agree that Scotland needs its own voice, but in a forum where that voice will not only be heard, but also have an effect. Members of the EEA have a right to be consulted on EU legislation, and it is more than likely that Scotland's voice would be heard more clearly there than in the EU itself. Ask the Norwegians.

21

jorgusch,

Leeds 05/03/2008 18:54:50
I am a German and pro-EU. It is strange for me how many Scotish people stay line in line with London.

The overall regulations are very centralized in the EU, that is true.
But 1) Specific issues are targeted extremly regional. This is the chance to bypass the eversame constellation in the British structure. Let's say the rules are not written yet.
Instead wasting the time on eversame fighting against Brussels, Scotish might consider people/EU-MPs staying together and ask for regional (cohesion)funds and lobby the problems. Either new or to bypass existing rules in UK. Catalonia, North Italy, Ireland/Cypres (as small countíes=region) and many Eastern regions were smart enough to do so. This is the first time I hear anything from Scotland.
But, 2) Are the centralized rules always bad in general? Now Scotland is allowed to fish again, would have been there enough fish left without the regulation? Noboday raised this question here. Another question, what I do not know for sure: If London would have decided to forbid fishing, would habe been there a way to work around that?

Who is loosing in the EU are in firstplace national states. Sorry, but Scotland is a level lower but consequently the one getting more power. You can play on to football fields and the same time willing to win the same game. This is a chance…

Overall, I do not many Scotish people but in this thread all are underestimating the influence of it. The numbers like in #20 1:100 look terrifing, but is a matter of good lobbying in other countries but Spain. It sounds if Scotland is not able to do so…and another thing, since there are so many regulations it is difficult to
22

jorgusch,

Leeds 05/03/2008 18:56:50
sorry:
overview them all. If Scotish MPs do in Scotish issues,good tactics and a good text and Scotland has it own interests.
23

catgut,

pomona 20/05/2008 18:17:44
Some one sold most of the shetland herring and mackerel quota to the dutch.
should this be allowed?

 

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