The Scottish Government has said it wants to build on its relationship with the Clyde fishers and “foster greater collaboration in the future”.

Responding to the Herald series, The Future of Clyde Fishing, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, noted that the theme of collaboration stood out. 

Articles highlighted, she noted, "the importance of our working relationship with the industry, and other stakeholders, to tackle challenges together".

But she also said that given the vast range of opinions from groups, ranging from fishers to marine conservationists “consensus on the best approach can be hard to achieve”.

The tensions between stakeholders in the marine space, and anger over policy were particularly strongly expressed in our coverage of the Scottish Government’s closure of an area known as the Clyde cod box, where cod spawn, to fishing.

One of the calls, in The Herald series, for more collaboration came from a Clyde creel fisherman, who said, “I want to fix the problem and build relationships between everyone involved: government, fishermen, eNGOs. In order to that we need to work together.”

(Image: Damian Shields/Derek McArthur)

Fishing is not the only activity in the marine space, and Ms Gougeon acknowledged the relatively recent arrival of “news users such as renewables”.

“Our seas,” she said, “are busy, and that means we need to plan more effectively, and make sure that the right protections are in place.”

Co-management, she wrote, is also set to be at the heart of “an agile, more regionalised framework” being developed for inshore fisheries. “This will enable a range of voices to be heard when developing policy that recognises the geographical variances and distinct challenges faced throughout Scotland’s diverse inshore fishing sector.”

Many of the challenges the Clyde faces,” she wrote, “are the same across Scotland and beyond. Indeed, some are common across all Scottish fishing sectors.”

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Ms Gougeon acknowledged that there is “work to do to help improve the health of some of our nationally important fish stocks and to ensure that our fishing businesses have access to appropriate fishing opportunities”.

On this, she wrote, progress is being made. “The Scottish Sustainable Fishing Indicator demonstrates that the sustainability status of commercial stocks in our waters has increased over time, from 37% in 1993 to 70% in 2022.”

Nevertheless, she noted, some stocks, crab and lobsters, have been shown to be under pressure. As a result, this year the Scottish Government introduced "interim management measures in response to evidence.”

The Scottish Government, she wrote, is also delivering “improvements to technical fishing regulations through our Catching Policy, which will help reduce unwanted bycatch, and improving our evidence base by considering the best ways to utilise vessel tracking and Remote Electronic Monitoring Technology (for example, through the use of cameras).”

Read Mairi Gougeon's comment in full here:

Mairi Gougeon on finding social and economic balance

Ms Gougeon also acknowledged “the important economic and social contribution that our fishing industry makes”.

“Our fishers,” she wrote, “have shown remarkable resilience over the years, adapting to changing fishing methods and management mechanisms as well as developing their own voluntary approaches to improve coexistence and demonstrate responsible practices.”

The challenges ahead due to warming and changing seas, were also noted. “Looking ahead,” she wrote, “climate change will challenge how businesses such as fishing operate. Warming seas also mean the species mix in our waters will change and we must adapt to that and we work together to help this adjustment. This brings both challenge and opportunity.