News Friday October 18th Fish by-catch back in headlines The issue of by-catch of fish which must be discarded is once again in the news, as Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil raised fishermen’s concerns about dumping a fish called ‘spur dog’. Mr MacNeil has written to the Governments in Edinburgh and London about the amount of boxes of spur dog that are dumped at sea because of quota restrictions. He said: “One fisherman contacted me this week to say he was just sick as he had to dump 40 boxes of spur dog on Wednesday, which makes a total of 200 boxes dumped since September. The fish was a non targeted by-catch and was taken up dead, it is a nuisance to fishermen as it is filling nets and wasting time.” The Marine Conservation Society says that the spurdog, a species of dogfish or rock salmon, is critically endangered and should be protected. Message from Scottish Secretary to islands The new Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael says its important islanders voices are heard by both UK and Scottish governments. The Scotland Office at Westminster used the Isles FM Facebook page to get the message out to listeners that Westminster is listening, and an island MP as Secretary of State for Scotland means a friendly ear in Parliament for all Scotland’s islanders. Mr Carmichael said: “As someone who lives, works and raises his family on Orkney, I know how strongly people feel about the centralisation of power, whether in London or Edinburgh. I hope the message the Our Islands Our Future delegation will take back to Stornoway is that they have a friend and ally in Westminster and that, following their meetings, the campaign is well understood by Whitehall.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 08:52:48 +0000
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