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Fish conservation measures
10/10/2008
An extension of Scotland's hugely successful Real Time Closures (RTC) programme has been announced.
A 'seasonal closure' at the Long Hole in the Fladen grounds, located 100 miles north east of Fraserburgh, will come into force at the start of December as part of the Scottish Conservation Credits Scheme.
A seasonal closure is a closure that is automatically implemented for a specified period of time. For instance, to protect aggregations of cod during the spawning season. Coordinates of the closure have been agreed with industry.
A Real Time Closure is an area of sea that has been closed to mobile fishing for a fixed period of 21 days where an abundance of cod has been identified.
Addressing the Scottish Fishermen's Federation annual dinner in Edinburgh last night, Mr Lochhead welcomed this move as a further example of the industry taking proactive steps to secure a better future for Scottish fishing.
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said:
"This year, we secured agreement from Brussels to operate our own ground breaking days at sea scheme, the Scottish Conservation Credits Scheme. Fishermen have benefited from additional days that recognise the steps they take to conserve and nurture stocks.
"That historic deal was the fruit of fantastic joint working between Government and the industry - active fishermen, many of them in this room, at the heart of our decision making.
"Under the scheme, we have made great strides in implementing measures to protect valuable fish stocks, showing leadership in Europe and rising to the challenge of ensuring cod fisheries are sustainable.
"Now we are going further with an addition to the highly successful Real Time Closures system. Our first ever seasonal closure, the Long Hole in the Fladen, will be closed from December to March to reflect the very high abundance of cod in the area at that time of year.
"The Scottish Government, the Scottish fishing industry and the Scottish people want to ensure that our coastal communities continue to be vibrant, optimistic and economically viable places where a new generation of fishermen can grow up.
"Together, we're driving forward the debate for better approaches to fisheries management: building on the success of the Scottish Conservation Credits Scheme; tackling the scourge of discards; and leading the debate on alternatives to a discredited Common Fisheries Policy that has not served Scotland's interests.
"We do so confident that here in Scotland we have the people - in industry and in our fishing communities - who can rise to these challenges and, together, can deliver success."
The proposal for a seasonal closure at the Long Hole in the Fladen is to implement a closure between December 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009 to protect significant aggregations of large cod that are found in this area. It covers an area of approximately 15 square miles with depths at its deepest points of up to 300 metres.
The closure will not be permanent and the closure dates are indicative. The area will be reopened after a sample haul has been undertaken by a commercial vessel observed either by Fisheries Research Services (FRS) or the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA). If the sample haul shows no or very little cod, then the reopening shall be instigated as planned. In the event that an aggregation of cod is found to be present, the closure will remain in place (for one month) at which time a repeat sample haul will be undertaken. An aggregation of cod for this purpose shall be in excess of (200 cod per hour). The haul will be approximately 2 to 2.5 hours in duration.
The observation of seasonal closures is voluntary under the Conservation Credits Scheme as a responsible management measure. Breach of the closure will attract the same penalty as a breach of an RTC closure - removal of benefits associated with the CCS. First, removal of option to operate on hours at sea and not days, second, the removal of additional days which by default means you are removed from the scheme and all associated benefits.
The Conservation Credits Scheme rewards fishermen with additional days at sea when they sign up to initiatives which have an appreciable impact on the conservation of fragile fish stocks. Measures under the scheme include the use of selective fishing gear as well as spatial avoidance measures such as the innovative Real Time Closures (RTC) programme, which protects cod where they aggregate in the North Sea.