Bid to prevent fishing closures

Richard Lochhead said shutting down west coast waters would be "absurd"

The Scottish fisheries secretary is due to hold an emergency meeting with EU Commissioner Joe Borg in a bid to stop Scottish fishing grounds being closed.

Richard Lochhead said EU proposals to shut down waters off the west coast due to fish shortages were "absurd".

The meeting in Brussels comes ahead of talks with the Fisheries Council, which will determine catches for 2009.

Mr Lochhead will say the measures would damage relations between fishermen and EU policy makers.

He said he intended to call for a major re-think of plans which would effectively ban trawling, leading to fears for the west coast's langoustine industry.

'Outrageous proposals'

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Lochhead said: "We will vigorously resist these absurd and outrageous proposals.

"At a time of great economic uncertainty we should be doing everything in our power to support our hard-pressed fishing communities - not destroy them."

Mr Lochhead acknowledged there were "difficulties" with west coast whitefish stocks, but warned closing the area to all trawl fisheries would be "disproportionate".

He added: "It is imperative that the measures taken do not close a vital sector of the Scottish fishing industry and the communities they serve from Campbeltown to Stornoway."

The European Commission proposals published earlier this month would see the west of Scotland whitefish fishery closed up to a distance of 200 miles from the shore to protect dwindling stocks.