Fishing industry facing split

Fishing industry is heading for a split

The fishing industry is facing a split as west coast fishermen complain that too much emphasis is being placed on the plight of cod and haddock fishermen in the north east.

At a joint meeting, the Clyde Fishermen's Association and the Mallaig and North West Fishermen's Association voted to begin moves to leave the Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF).

They said the SFF concentrates too much on white fish interests and fails to show the same concern for smaller sectors, such as scallop fishermen.

The fisherman passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in SFF president Alex Smith which will now have to be put to the annual meetings of both associations in May.

John MacAlister, chairman of the Mallaig and North West Fishermen's Association and vice President of the SFF told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme the issue would have to be resolved.

He said: "The unrest is justified. This has been an issue for a long time. The feeling within the west coast is white fish dominates the federation."

West coast fishermen want to leave SFF

The SFF has been leading a campaign over recent months to get compensation for haddock fishermen centred on the ports in the north east of Scotland, such as Peterhead.

The north east fishermen wanted a payout from the Scottish Executive to voluntarily tie-up their boats in order to conserve haddock stocks.

They said they were being forced to catch small and immature haddock, which had to be returned to the water dead.

Representatives of the west coast associations said that the SFF had concentrated too much on white fish fishermen's interests.

They said that the presidency had failed to show the same concern for smaller sectors, such as scallop fishermen.

Scallop fisherman have suffered due to amnesic shellfish poisoning

They also alleged that they lost £10m in the year 2000 because of the ban on selling west coast scallops.

The orders were imposed in response to outbreaks of potentially deadly amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP).

Patrick Stewart, secretary of the Clyde Fishermen's Association, said: "These problems have been building for the past three or four years.

"The fishermen are well aware of the need for a united front, but this step is symptomatic of the serious internal problems faced by the SFF.

"They have been concentrating far too much on the interests of the east coast white fish sector.

Great unease

"It can be proved that they haven't tackled west coast issues with the same intensity."

Mr MacAlister added: "This came from the membership and there has been great unease among the fishermen about the SFF for some time, because they feel they are not getting proper representation.

"They feel that the white fish sector is too powerful and can buy seats at the SFF table.

"That is not a democratic way to proceed. I suggested a strong shot across the SFF bows but the men themselves wanted to pursue withdrawing from the organisation."

He said certain politicians were ignoring the problem in the scallop industry and instead had focused on cod and haddock.

Mr MacAlister added that he "would be willing to resign" if a solution could not be found.