Scots suffer as fish quotas cut
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• A 50% cut in the UK cod and hake quota next year could force one of Scotland's leading fish hauliers to diversify into agricultural distribution.
Michael Crone of Peterhead Transport says the European Commission plan means an "already bad situation for the industry, with current quota restrictions, becoming worse".
He adds: "One day you will have seven or eight artics workmg, then the next day you will only have three or four. We just can't afford to keep relying on that side of our business."
Crone predicts that the cut will force more fish hauliers out of business: "It will be a fight of the fittest among hauliers."
The EC says the cutbacks are needed to protect threatened stocks from collapse. It follows the recent emergency ban on catches during the cod spawning season in 100,000km2 of the North Sea.