Scotland’s inshore extend 12 nautical miles from Scotland’s coastline, cover over half of the country’s territorial area and were historically a rich source of wealth for coastal communities.
Despite the importance of inshore waters their management has been neglected. Over-fishing and the use of fishing gear which damages habitats have not only been permitted but promoted. As a consequence the inshore ecosystem has been degraded and the valuable fin-fish stocks have collapsed to the point that coastal communities no longer enjoy a mixed and vibrant economy.
SIFT promotes fisheries policies which conserve and restore the diversity of the marine ecosystem. In particular SIFT promotes ecosystem-based management and reductions in effort of damaging bottom trawls and dredges within specific inshore areas.
These policies assist the return of a more lucrative, sustainable and mixed economy featuring revived fin-fisheries, recreational sea angling, traditional shell fish creeling and scallop diving as well as leisure activities which rely on a healthy sea.
Fish Legal’s solicitor in Scotland, Robert Younger, has this week met with Marine Scotland and discussed SIFT’s proposals for the regeneration of the collapsed fishery in the Firth of Clyde which include a reinstatement of a pre-existing ban on seabed prawn trawling and scallop dredging within a three mile limit by reversing relevant sections of the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 and it is hoped progress will be made as a result.
To find out more about SIFT check out their website HERE
