Governments must work to resolve fish discards

12.35.14pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 26th Sep 2008

Commenting after the Discards Summit held by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh today (Thursday) to reduce the discarding of fish, Liberal Democrat Fisheries spokesperson Liam McArthur said:

“The problems associated with fish discards cannot be solved by Scotland alone. The Government must work constructively with Westminster and the EU, as well as with the Regional Advisory Councils, to address this complicated issue.

“So far the SNP have a poor track record in working constructively with other political institutions. There has been no better illustration of this than Scottish Ministers' potentially illegal decision to 'tartanise' quota and end transfers back in May.

“Fish discards remain a real problem for Scotland’s fishing industry. They are damaging for fish stocks, frustrating for fishermen and unfairly tarnish the industry’s image. Inter-Governmental action, not unilateral spin, is needed to resolve this problem.”