Scottish fishermen are rallying against the recent advice on certain North Sea quotas from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), calling the whole process “flawed and in need of substantive reform.”
ICES is recommending reductions in the North Sea cod total allowable catch (TAC) of 10.3 percent and North Sea and West Coast saithe of 24 percent.
At the same time, it is advocating increases for North Sea and West Coast haddock of 154 percent, and North Sea whiting of 236 percent.
“These numbers bear no relation to what our members are seeing out on the fishing grounds every day,” said Simon Collins, executive officer of the Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA).
“With such wild swings in both directions, a regular occurrence in recent years, it is clear that ICES needs to take a good hard look at the process and consider whether its modelling is still relevant.”
The Scottish Whitefish Producers Association (SWFPA) and the SFA are demanding the Scottish government establish an independent panel to assess the numbers and put them into proper perspective.
“It is very clear that ICES has not kept up with changes in the ecosystem, such as the migration of cod stocks, which appears to be being driven by climate change,” said Mike Park, chief executive of SWFPA.
“There is no point in advising large increases in quotas for some stocks when absurdly small quotas for others caught at the same time prevent vessels from going to sea. Fish don’t swim together in neat shoals of their own species.”
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) said it was “dismayed” by the advice.
“This simply fails to reflect the volumes of cod that fishermen are seeing on the grounds, and on the back of huge cuts in the previous two years, is desperate news for the industry,” said SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald.
“No account is being taken of the distribution of different cod stocks within the North Sea and adjacent areas, and ICES needs to alter its modelling to take account of such spatial considerations.”
Within a mixed fishery, as soon as you have low quotas for cod, you restrict the opportunities for fishermen catching these other key species, she added.
“When you add in the fact that there is advice for large increases in TACs for other species, namely North Sea haddock and whiting, and serious quota constraints due to the appalling Brexit deal, sound management of these fisheries becomes almost impossible to achieve.”
One sign of hope is whiting, which the industry has been telling scientists for years has been plentiful, said Macdonald.
“After assisting in the process that ICES followed to change the model for that stock, we now have advice for whiting that a bit more closely reflects what skippers are seeing on the grounds."
