SHETLAND Islands Council is to express its concern to the UK Government over proposed changes to North Sea cod quotas for next year which the local industry has warned could be “fleet-ending”.
North Isles councillor Duncan Anderson, supported by ward colleagues Robert and Ryan Thomson, led a notice of motion in the Shetland Islands Council chamber earlier today (Monday).
It asked the SIC to make an urgent representation to the secretary of state Angela Eagle about the proposals.
There was no-one otherwise minded in the council chamber, with the motion passing.
It comes after the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advised a “zero catch” North Sea cod quota for 2026.
ICES said everything but accidental bycatch should be stopped in order to ensure the safety of the species, blaming uncertainties in the stock for the decision.
But Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) called the announcement “outrageous” and “fleet-ending madness”.
The SFA has instead called on northern shelf cod quotas to remain at their 2025 levels.
Anderson’s motion urged the council to make “urgent representation” to Eagle and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to formally register its concern.
“ICES themselves admit considerable uncertainty around the data being used to justify this new position which has the potential to cause great economic and social damage to areas like Shetland, for which fishing is a major part of our economy and heritage,” it added.
“We respectfully request that the government consider the alternative proposal put forward by the Shetland Fishermen’s Association, thereby providing stability to the industry until more robust data can be obtained.”
SFA chairman James Anderson, who is also skipper of the whitefish vessel Alison Kay, said recently that governments could not expect boats “surrounded by cod” to tie up for a year and still be in business at the end of it.
“Fishing crews in Shetland do not believe that further quota reductions would do anything to encourage growth in the cod stock,” he said, adding: “So we are proposing a series of measures which will more successfully balance stock sustainability and economic stability – until the various scientific uncertainties around cod are better resolved.”
The Shetland proposal includes extended spawning ground closures across the North Sea to protect juvenile cod and voluntary 30 per cent total allowable catch reductions for haddock and whiting.
They have also offered to double the scientific quota available for cod studies through “industry contribution”.
The SFA said this would “help resolve the scientific uncertainties which plague the Northern Shelf cod stock assessment”.
The association has warned that drastic cuts would “devastate North Sea fishing communities, particularly in Scotland”.
