Fishermen net benefits of leaving Common Fisheries Policy
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Fishermen continue to net the benefits of being out of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) after seeing yearly sales incomes rise by 40 per cent over the last three years.
New figures from the Scottish Government show vessels over 24 metres made £3.5 million last year compared to £3 million in 2021 and £2.8 million in 2019.
The statistics, obtained by the Scottish Conservatives, show monthly takings were also up to £295,000 from previous years.
Boats between 10 and 24 metres in length, increased earnings to £370,000 which is also a rise of 40 per cent compared to 2020.
Crews also saw their average monthly incomes increase to £31,000 – a rise of £9000 per month compared to 2020.
It comes after Peterhead Port set a new record for annual fish landings, with £226 million-worth of catches traded across the quaysides this past year.
The total beats last year’s £220 million, itself a record in the modern era, as landings to November 30, 2023, stood at just under 190,000 tons.
For 2024, the trilateral agreement between UK-EU-Norway has delivered £199 million, £68 million more than in 2023.
The bilateral agreement between UK-EU delivers an estimated value of £194 million for Scotland.
And the UK Government also recently revealed that fishermen will benefit from continued access to Norwegian North Sea waters to fish for stocks such as cod, haddock and hake following the conclusion of annual fisheries negotiations with Norway.
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid said: “These figures are fantastic and show our fishing fleets are reaping the rewards of being out of the EU and the detrimental Common Fisheries Policy.
“Leaving the EU has meant the UK has been able to seize post-Brexit freedoms by negotiating deals as an independent coastal state which are in the best interests of the north-east fishing industry.
“Scottish Government negotiators have a far stronger voice at the table than they ever did before compared with when we were just one of 28 EU member states.
“But the SNP are hell-bent on sacrificing that advantage, and our fishermen, in their ideological crusade to break up the United Kingdom and to rejoin the EU.
“The Common Fisheries Policy was a disaster for fishermen and coastal communities in Banff and Buchan over decades and assertions that somehow an independent Scotland would be able to influence reforms are pure fantasy.
“I’m delighted these numbers reflect that the industry is taking full advantage of our position outside the CFP.”
