“Same attitudes persist” – Carmichael to challenge SNP history of mismanagement in fishing debate

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, will today highlight the SNP government’s history of mismanagement over the fishing industry while leading a debate in the House of Commons, warning that “when any government thinks it knows better than the industry then we know that bad outcomes are just around the corner”.

He is expected to cite:

• the SNP’s poor engagement around the Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund, which led to Scotland receiving a far smaller share of funds than the proportionate value of the Scottish fishing industry;
• the SNP’s similarly disproportionate allocation of the Marine Fund, which saw Shetland receiving a smaller share than the value of its catch
• the SNP’s hated HPMA scheme, only overturned by local campaigning in coastal and island communities
• the harmful “economic link” rules, tightened recently by the SNP government, which are weakening opportunities for Shetland fishermen

Mr Carmichael is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries, and Chair of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, which is holding an evidence session as part of its enquiry into fisheries and the marine environment next Wednesday 28th January.

Mr Carmichael is expected to say:

“Fishing is an area of government policy where good cooperation between our governments makes a difference.  It is what the industry needs and expects of us.  Sadly, they do not always get it.

“The recent controversy around the Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund illustrates how it is fishers who lose out when that goes wrong. Let us remember that the roots of that fund lie in the decision of the Prime Minister to sign up for a twelve year extension of the catastrophically bad TCA deal that Boris Johnston got us in 2020.  Given that the EU themselves were only seeking a five year extension then it is quite something to have managed to negotiate them up to twelve.

“To my mind it made perfect sense for the fund to be administered on a UK-wide basis as was the case with a previous fund delivered under the last government.  That would, in fact, have been an opportunity for Scotland’s two governments to work together collaboratively on the delivery and that delivery could have been more reflective of the fact that the Scottish fleet accounts for more than 60% of the UK fishing effort.

“Instead the government in Whitehall acquiesced to demands from the SNP Government in Edinburgh to devolve the administration.  With devolution inevitably there followed the inevitable application of the Barnet Formula and, as a result of that, we receive only 8.3% of the fund.

“The irony of the fuss created by SNP ministers about the allocation of the Coastal Growth Fund was not lost on fishermen in Shetland.  As the Shetland Times pointed out, Shetland received only 5% of the Scottish Government’s Marine Fund, despite the fact that we account for 20% of Scotland’s fishing product.  We were assured by local SNP politicians that this was entirely different as that scheme was “merit based”.  Presumably that means that we only got our quarter share because we were not good enough for the rest.

“When any government thinks it knows better than the industry then we know that bad outcomes are just around the corner. Never was that more clearly seen than it was when the SNP in Edinburgh along with their then coalition partners in the Greens sought to close down vast areas of fishing grounds by designating them as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). That was something that was only stopped after the most colossal campaign by industry and community organisations around the coast.  It should never have been so difficult to make our own government backdown on measures that were so obviously an existential threat to coastal and island communities. 

“The signs remain there that the same attitudes persist within the SNP and the Scottish Government. Members will have heard me speak before about the difficult situation facing our pelagic fleet as a result of the quota cuts from the year end negotiations. That will put our pelagic fleet under serious pressure. At times like this, being able to land fish in the place where they will get the best possible price becomes more important than ever, so the increase in the requirement of pelagic boats to land in Scotland limits unnecessarily their scope to maximise the restricted opportunity that they have. 

“Again, it has not gone unnoticed that Nationalist voices in the Shetland Times condemn the change while, in the pages of Fishing News, Gillian Martin MSP stridently supports her ministerial colleagues. 

“Mr Speaker, it doesn’t have to be like this. Our fishing fleets around the coast and in our island communities ask only to be heard and listened to by government.  They do a difficult and often dangerous job and they should not have to contend with that being made even more difficult and, yes, occasionally dangerous, by the people that we all elect to serve here and in other UK legislatures.”