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Dear Sir
I am an ex fisherman of 30 years and now enjoy looking into the underlying workings of the industry and am shocked at the level of uncontrolled fishing taking place in our waters. I have read your future Fishing Plan and am disappointed at its lack of support for our industry, it basically says nothing tangible.
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I would like to know who gives orders to our Marine Scotland for fisheries protection. Why are foreign fishing vessel never boarded and allowed to fish unmolested scot-free in our waters carrying out uncontrolled fishing. These vessels frequently land in Lerwick and their catches are never monitored, why?
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SNP constituency candidate for Shetland at the forthcoming elections to the Scottish Parliament Tom Wills has called for fisheries protection in Scottish waters to be modernised and improved.
Wills was speaking after local fishermen vented their anger that the German-registered gill netter
Pesorsa Dos has again been fishing in waters to the west of Shetland.
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The 46 metre Spanish-owned vessel was at the centre of a confrontation on the high seas last June when she was filmed allegedly trying to foul the propeller of local whitefish trawler
Alison Kay in an ongoing dispute over access to these rich fishing grounds.
Pesorsa Dos reappeared in the waters to the west of Shetland.
Last year, the Spanish owned vessel was in the centre of a huge controversy after the crew of the Alison Kay (LK57) posted a video that appeared to show the gill netter trying to foul the local trawler’s propeller.
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At the time, UK and Scottish authorities said they were unable to intervene and investigate the serious allegations.
However, some weeks later the same vessel was detained by the Irish authorities for allegedly infringing EU fisheries regulations and was escorted to Killybegs.
Following Brexit and the “hugely disappointing” trade deal, the UK has become an independent coastal state, but EU vessels continue to have full access to UK waters until 2026.
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Shetland fishers are near “boiling point” with frustration about UK vessels being regularly inspected in Scottish waters, while EU-owned boats are escaping similar scrutiny, it is being claimed.
Figures obtained from Marine Scotland under freedom of information (FoI) rules reveal UK vessels were boarded 104 times in Scottish waters during 2020 and on 492 occasions in 2019.
This is compared to 20 boardings of EU boats at sea in 2020 and 88 in 2019.
Boardings of UK boats in Scottish ports totalled 586 in 2020 (1,388 in 2019), compared to 51 for EU vessels (270 in 2019).
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