Tag Archives: Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael

‘Why is the fishing industry having to fight their own government for survival?’

The fishing industry is seeking urgent clarification from government in the light of growing evidence that local vessels are being prevented from fishing traditional grounds by foreign owned and crewed fishing vessels. The issue was raised by Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael during a fishing debate in parliament on Tuesday morning. The Orkney and Shetland MP told UK fishing minister Victoria Prentis that he had urged her to give powers to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to police the waters out to the 200-mile limit at the time the post Brexit fisheries bill was passing through parliament last autumn. >click to read< 13:22

Shetland fishermen against Brexit transition period extension

In the light of the Covid-19 crisis and the deep recession forecast for 2020, Liberal Democrats and the SNP have been lobbying for an additional delay before the UK leaves the EU. But Simon Collins, the SFA’s executive officer, said that as far as he could see there was “not much appetite within the government to extend”, and fishing was a special case anyway. “Whatever decisions are being made for other parts of the economy, for which we can’t speak, as far as fishing is concerned our stance is absolutely clear: we have every intention to push the government to deliver, at least for fishing, that we are an independent coastal state by the end of the year. >click to read< 15:46