HPMA devastation – the battle continues

The stark warning emerged during a meeting of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s member officer working group on fisheries, when councillors met with industry representatives amid concern over the latest proposals for Highly Protected Marine Areas.

HPMA “version two”, as they have been dubbed, would lead to widespread restrictions, with many observers claiming that it is little different from earlier proposals which were abandoned following a public backlash.

The member officer working group heard that there are around 100 workers employed in shellfish processing in the islands during the high season, the vast majority of which will be lost under the latest proposals, they warned.

Leverburgh Fisherman Donald MacLennan commented: "It's a bit like the Roman Empire. They (the Scottish Government) might lose battles, but they keep coming back until they win the war. And I think that's just what they do. They just keep at it.”

Donald is owner/skipper of the Valhalla which fishes for crab, langoustine and lobster in the Sound of Harris. Like generations of fishermen before him he realises the importance of responsible, sustainable fishing.

“If you speak to any fisherman that cares none of us want to see a degraded marine environment. We want to see it properly managed,” he said. “If you do any form of fishing intensely you'll have a negative, whether it's static gear like creels, nets, or mobile trawling or dredging, if it's too intensive.

“But it’s far more sensible to better manage that fishery and reduce effort, so you can achieve better catch per unit effort. 
And you're minimising the number of hours you're pulling creels, or towing nets and dredges. That surely makes more sense than closing off resources to island communities completely.

“The whole premise is that they need to reduce and ban scallop dredging, because there's been a kind of social media turn on it a bit like the guga, where people are just outraged about it but they don't understand the full facts”

The industry representatives at last week’s meeting painted a bleak picture for the future of on-shore processing jobs

Group chair, Cllr Norman Macdonald, said: “We knew following the backlash around HPMAs, that the government 'agenda' around imposing further restrictions on the West Coast fishing effort would be back in some form or another.Here is the evidence of it.

“The knock-on effect on a fleet that prides itself on sustainable seabed management and self-policing regulation, which has seen stocks boom, will be loss of grounds, loss of vessels and fishermen, loss of catch throughput for processors, and ultimately some will contemplate closure. This will be devastating for communities.

“In some areas we are looking at the future viability of schools, shops and services. Where is the joined up thinking around sustaining communities and preventing population decline? Where is the island proofing?”