MP claimes fishers 'heckle' Mairi Gougeon over failure to address HPMA proposals
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Outraged fishers have vented their anger over a failure by Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon to address the issue of Highly Protected Marine Areas during her speech at the Fishing Expo which opened today in Aberdeen.
The plans would ban fishing in around 10 per cent of Scotland's coastal waters.
It is understood that delegates heckled Ms Gougeon as it became clear she wasn't planning to talk about HPMAs in any detail and instead used her speech to reinforce the need to protect the environment.
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid, who attended the event in Aberdeen, said: “Mairi Gougeon had the opportunity today to address the fears of the fishing industry by reassessing the SNP’s deeply damaging HPMA proposals.
“Instead, she refused to even mention HPMAs during her woeful 10-minute speech – to the astonishment of the industry.
“Fishermen were right to heckle this pathetic attempt by Ms Gougeon at trying to pull the wool over their eyes by not addressing the elephant in the room, a policy which threatens their livelihoods.
“It’s clear the SNP Government are prioritising their nationalist alliance with the Greens over the livelihoods of Scotland’s fishermen and coastal communities.
“Only the Scottish Conservatives are standing up for the fishing industry and holding the SNP-Green government to account over their disastrous and unworkable plans for the sector.”
Responding to the claim of heckling a spokesperson for Mairi Gougeon said:“Quite the opposite to what some are claiming, at the Skippers’ Expo in Aberdeen this morning, the Cabinet Secretary was listened to respectfully, then spent nearly an hour and a half touring the hall, visiting stands and engaging with attendees.
"She was warmly received everywhere she went, had constructive conversations and received invites to visit businesses and communities for follow up discussions.”
Read the Cabinet Ministers speech in full here.
