Little makes sense in Struan Stevenson’s piece today. He writes:
‘Barnier has already caused controversy by telling the UK that if they want a free trade agreement with the EU they will have to allow “continued, reciprocal access to markets and to waters with stable quota shares.’
and then, laughably insists:
[T}he EU’s reliance on access to our waters and their dependence on UK seafood exports puts them in a vulnerable position which Britain should exploit in trade negotiations. Scottish fishermen claim the Europeans are entering negotiations from a position of weakness and their tough talking is simply bluff and bluster.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18288720.struan-stevenson-britannia-can-rule-waves-comes-fish/
So, the EU wants the same access or better to UK waters that they had before and insist that the UK will only get a free trade deal with access to EU markets for financial services, if it agrees? How this puts the EU in a position of weakness is unclear. I don’t know if Stevenson goes on to present these two facts:
- Fishing is worth £1.4 billion or 0.1% of the UK economy.
- Financial services is worth £119 billion or 6.5% of the UK economy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-46372153
Add to this stark economic reality the fact that much of the fishing is in Scottish waters and most of the financial activity is in London and the notion that the former will not be sacrificed for the latter and one’s head requires screwing on more firmly.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Mr Stevenson carries on the “fine” Scorrish (sic) Toadie tradition of selling Scotland out.
“Red Line, bluster, blather, blah blah”! —–“Oh, where do I sign”.
And not a single Scot in the room as Scottish fish stocks are negotiated away.
Landlocked EU countries have more say on Scotland fishing grounds than Scotland does.
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Who will ensure quotas are set and adhered to ?
Will EU legislation that stops or limits the landing of certain fish species to ensure their existence is not endangered continue to be applied ?
Or will U.K. return to its past practice of a free for all that nearly wiped out cod and haddock in our seas and sorounding area
These are the important matters to consider
Once we are out of the EU we will see that EU boats will not land their fish at Peterhead etc EU boats will be required to land their fish at EU ports
Russia and other non EU countries may continue to land fish at Peterhead etc but many of them land their fish in their own countries and won’t change that
It’s a no win situation for our deep sea fish landing ports
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Terence
Will our fishermen wake up at some point. Or will they remain under the spell Cast by Struan and pals.
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Haddocks, flounders..
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Let’s not generalise from the few, very wealthy, deep sea, and substantially, ‘Protestant Boys’ of the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation, who are the ‘go-to’ rentaquotes for BBC Scotland, to all of those involved in the fishing industry in Scotland. The fish processors were not too enamoured of Brexit, those exporting seafood are seriously concerned about access to European markets, smaller, in-shore fishing groups are not as one with the SFF. The smaller fishing vessels were ignored by the Blair Government when it negotiated fishing access and could easily have negotiated, within EC rules, largely exclusive access for local UK fishers, to waters close to the UK coast.
Although Struan Stevenson lived in South Ayrshire and is undoubtedly aware of the views of the owners of the smaller vessels who fish the Clyde and the Irish Sea, it is the interests of the really wealthy that the Tories have at heart. In his younger days, although a Tory, he was actually one of the few who dared to be heretical about the Blessed Margaret Thatcher and was excluded from candidature for Westminster seats and had to go to Europe to make his career. Since the Thatcherites and their progeny have largely won the argument (and not just for the Tories, but also for the Blairite Labourites and much of the LibDems) he has to cosy up to the power brokers.
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So much fish sold in Scotland as “ fresh fish “ is actually frozen fish thawed out and presented as if it has been caught by the fishermen landed and arrived in the fish shop without ever being frozen.
They can’t provide fresh fish that has never been frozen in most places across Scotland now because there are so few places in Scotland where it’s landed.
I live in Dundee I now buy my fish direct from the ports where it’s landed.
If it’s smoked it’s obviously been out of the sea a while and been preserved with the smoking process.
If it’s not smoked you can tell if it is fish caught in the last couple of days or if it’s fish that was caught a week ago
It’s a world of a difference when you get fresh fish landed one day packed and posted to you in iced boxes the next day for you to receive the day after that.
The mass production and processing has allowed the big fishing boats to sell to a wider customer base but at the same time it has sacrificed the local Scottish market.
At ne time there were fishing ports all around the coast of Scotland where fishermen landed their fish and sold it same day or next day in the county in which it was landed.
Those days are mostly gone, not completely but mostly.
Maybe Scottish independence will restore local small fishing businesses a king and promote the eating of fresh fish before frozen.
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This was brought home quite sharply a couple of years ago, when I was on holiday in South Uist and Eriskay. My mother was from South Uist and spoke of getting freshly landed fish and shellfish. I was at the store on Eriskay when the fish van arrived, delivering fish from Dingwall. This was the supplier for the stretch from North Uist to Barra. Given that few places in Scotland are very far from the sea there ought to be a market for local in-shore fishers to sell their catches the same day or the following day.
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