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Fish hauliers under threat in Scotland
Page 10
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is by Guy Sheppard
Fish hauliers in Scotland say they will be wiped out if the European Commission bans cod fishing in a bid to preserve stocks.
The international Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) wants to close all fisheries that target cod in the North Sea and off the west coast of Scotland. In a report to the EC, the ICES also calls for the closure of fisheries that target other white fish where cod Is caught as a by-product.
Raymond Simpson, MD of Aberdeen-based Mil Simpson, says the firm will close with the lass of 60 jobs if the ban Is implemented. "Without fish, we have no job," he says.
The company was founded 26 years age; it operates a fleet of 50 vehicles which take fish from Scotland's east coast ports to local processing plants.
Ricky Wood, operations manager for the Aberdeen depot of French-owned Frigecosse. says it employs four drivers who deliver fish to the Continent. "We would have to look at diversifying into other forms of haulage," he adds.
But Pat Glancey, the Road Haulage Association's area manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland, says reefers in the area are used almost exclusively for fish, "The economic impact to the ports on the east coast of Scotland would be devastating," she warms.
Donald Morrison is owner of Norscot Seafoods at Kinlochbervie on the west coast of Scotland, which employs four Myers. He says even a short-term suspension of fishing would be devastating to the entire industry: It would never be the same again when it reopened because the Infrastructure would no Fenger be there for the same level of capacity."
ICES says cod stocks are now at or near their lowest recorded levels, and the existing quota system Is not giving them enough time to recover. Scottish fishing industry leaders warn that the proposed protection measures would cost at least 10,000 jobs.