Tag Archives: would kill fishing boat trade
MPA’s: Scottish island faces being ‘wiped out’ by SNP’s green crackdown on fishing in its rich waters
Tiree, population 653, is known as the Hawaii of the North but islanders say it will become ‘non-viable’ if a Highly Protected Marine Area is imposed by Holyrood ministers. Now the risk is that a new environmental protection area would kill the island’s fishing boat trade, which is one of the few economic growth sectors. Having gone from two boats in 1995 to nine boats today, which provide 20 full time jobs, the annual catch of crab and lobster has a value of £1million. Tiree fisherman Neil MacPhail said: “If this (HPMA) landed on top of us we would be wiped out overnight, with one stroke of the pen on a chart.”He added: “My boat alone puts food on the table for eleven people. One boat’s worth of economic impact is huge in a community such as Tiree. It’s the only industry in the island which has genuinely bucked the depopulation trend.” >click to read< 18:07
