Scottish fishing group to challenge EU quota deal

Scottish fishermen’s leaders will seek a suspension of tough new European regulations after deciding today to challenge the rules in court.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) warned that the deal, agreed between EU fisheries ministers in Brussels in December, would put many skippers out of business.

The federation’s executive committee, meeting in Edinburgh today, agreed to go to court to seek an interdict against the new regime, which is due to come into force next month.

The rules, which include a 53% increase in the haddock quota, allow Scottish skippers just 15 days at sea and impose strict limits on the areas in which they can catch.

Emerging from today’s meeting, SFF president Alex Smith said the deal was “totally unworkable” and lawyers had offered the federation a “very positive opinion” on the case for a legal challenge.

The grounds for any challenge will include alleged discrimination against Scottish fishermen and claims that the national fleet has not been given a fair allocation of permitted days at sea per month.

Mr Smith said: “We’ve agreed that we will pursue an action in the courts with regards to the measures that were brought in on December and are due to come into effect on February 1.

“We are pursuing a suspension order initially, until this is properly addressed.

“The decision was based on the legal opinion we received on Friday and we will be meeting with our instructing solicitor and QC tomorrow.”

Mr Smith was unable to give further details of the challenge ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with lawyers in Aberdeen.

Mike Park, SFF vice-president and chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producer’s Association, said the regime proposed by the commission made the new quota “completely unachievable”.

“There has been concern about this deal since it was struck in December and today we came to the conclusion that we have no alternative but to challenge this as a federation,” he said after the meeting.

“The quota increase is a target that really cannot be achieved due to the wider impact of regime – not just the 15 days, but the complexity of adhering to the 15 days, and the areas and the operation of the permits.”