McArthur questions Government about latest threat to fishing industry

4.46.09pm GMT Thu 29th Oct 2009

Liberal Democrat Fisheries spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP is pressing the Government for answers about the new electronic net measuring gauges and the impact they could have on the Scottish fishing industry.

A Shetland crew were arrested after one of their nets failed the test with the new electronic gauge. Previously, nets were measured with hand held, wedge-shaped devices.

Commenting, Mr McArthur said:

“Net mesh sizes must comply with regulations. But the industry has raised concerns that nets which previously passed the old hand held test may fail the new electronic test.

“At least one crew has already been caught out by this and others could yet find they are unintentionally breaching regulations.

“We need to know why this new test has been introduced and what steps Scottish Ministers have taken to test the impact and robustness of the new devices.

“Replacing nets will be an expense that few crews can afford in the present economic climate. That’s why I am asking the Scottish Government if it plans to compensate those crews forced to discard nets that passed the old test, but fail the new test. If not, Ministers must permit these nets to continue to be measured by the hand-held devices until they come to the end of their working life"