New fears that HPMAs are being “re-branded”

A recent meeting of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s Primary Industries Working Group considered a briefing paper from NatureScot as part of the Scottish Government’s preparations to consult later this year on Inshore Marine Protected Areas

What the councillors saw gave rise to a real sense of déjà vu with concerns that new regulations which target areas and fisheries that sustain the Western Isles industry will amount to a "rebranding" of HPMAs.

Inshore MPA designations have been in place around much of the Western Isles for years but, in the main, have not been accompanied by formal management measures. However, since the collapse of HPMAs, there have been fears that existing MPA and other designations will become pegs on which to hang restrictions.

Determination was expressed this week to resist a “rebranding” of HPMAs, albeit without the more colourful measures such as bans on canoeing and paddle boarding.

Industry leaders say that discussions have been continuing for the past year in an effort to head off a repeat of the HPMA conflict. They have questioned the relevance of data the proposals are founded on, saying it has been drawn from locations with different fishing cultures and methods.

Arrangements are being made for observers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrew’s to go onto fishing boats to gather evidence which it is hoped will convince the Scottish Government that existing practices are working in harmony with the conservation needs of sensitive species.

The Scottish Government say that a consultation on “management measures” will cover “existing MPAs where they are yet to be introduced, and to protect some of the most vulnerable Priority Marine Features outside of MPAs”.

It is understood the Scottish Government will be consulting on 173 sites. Although the number in the Outer Hebrides has not been confirmed, it is expected that up to 20 per cent of that total may be in island waters.

Councillor Norman Macdonald, chair of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Primary Industries Group, expressed concern that new regulations could “creep up” on the industry and result in it being “legislated out of any meaningful existence”.

It is “vital to disprove” the data, he said, in order to confirm that “we’re not catching what they say we could be catching” in terms of protected species and also not damaging the seabed and wider marine environment.

Councillor Macdonald added: “Until the consultation paper is released and the management measures proposed are thoroughly examined, judgment must be reserved. However, we do not want to see a rebrand of HPMAs and will stand fully behind our islands fishing and marine communities to make sure once more that our voices are heard.”

He said island fishermen are the best custodians of the fishing grounds as they have a vested industry in sustainability, with their livelihoods and those of future generations, as well as the viability of communities, dependent on them.

“Our fishermen are saying ‘we’re not causing this damage’. Our fishing is hugely sustainable. Our guys are determined that the stocks will be managed and they have been seeing growth in the last ten years. If the fishermen see harm being done, they take steps to reverse it.

“If they see any diminution of the stock and it’s a fishing effort that’s causing it, then they will manage it themselves.

“They will move the area or stop fishing for a particular species. I think it’s vital that we get the Scottish Government to understand that we are sustainable and we are responsible as a fishing community and we can manage our own stocks well.

“Overfishing is the one thing that our own folk are vehemently opposed to. They want to grow and sustain their stocks so that there’s bounty there for years to come and for future generations. It’s about longevity.”

This finely tuned management of stocks could be jeopardised, said Councillor Macdonald, if it was taken out of local hands “which Scottish Government are wanting to do.”

Duncan Macinnes, secretary of the Western Isles Fishermen’s Association and deputy leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has been closely involved in talks with Scottish Government agencies over the past year.

He said island representatives will have an online meeting with policy makers this week to make their case. Mr Macinnes stressed that fishermen already respect the sensitivities of Marine Protected Areas, without further “management measures”.

In the light of existing measures which cover some MPAs, he said they are trying to “ensure that we don’t have a repetition of the first tranche when large areas of seabed were unnecessarily closed to commercial fishing.

“New technology exists aboard fishing vessels to zone the seabed by depth reducing the need to close large areas of sea, which was not available in 2014 and this should provide the co-management of the seabed that was missing when the first tranche of MPAs were implemented”.

Mr Macinnes said meetings have taken place over the past year with officials from the Marine Directorate and NatureScot at venues throughout the Western Isles, to consider the future of sites that have already been designated but have no management measures in place.

He said: “Some of those sites were designated over ten years previously and fishermen have been netting there, as they had been since tangle and gill netting were developed nearly 50 years ago.

“At those meetings it was apparent that significant interaction occurred between netting and birds in other regions, based on data provided by NatureScot from South West England and regions of Europe. However, no data was provided to indicate that similar interaction occurred in Scottish waters”.

Mr Macinnes said: “Observers were aboard vessels west of Uist and Barra in the eighties and no concerns or any interaction with birds was reported”. He also stressed the willingness of fishermen to accommodate observers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit so that current data can be collected within designated sites.

“Following discussions with officials from Marine Directorate an online meeting has been arranged, involving skippers from the Western Isles, Tiree, Orkney and other islands to progress an observer programme aboard vessels from different geographical regions of Scotland to collect data from the netting fishery that will truly reflect any interaction between netting methods and birds or mammals”, said Mr Macinnes.

He said that in the view of fishermen, “those areas can be zoned by depth, season and distance from the shore to identify areas where little or no interaction with birds occurs”.

Mr Macinnes added: “Fishermen at those meetings indicated that the main threat they had seen to birds came from sea eagles which killed a significant number of birds on a daily basis throughout the Western Isles and posed a much greater threat to birds that any fishing activity.”

The Scottish Government said: “The proposals are part of an ongoing programme of work to implement fisheries management measures in existing MPAs where they are yet to be introduced, and to protect some of the most vulnerable Priority Marine Features outside of MPAs”.