The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has welcomed the announcement by the Scottish Government that it is to launch a new economic study to assess the impact the recession and new fishing regulations are having on the fishing industry.
Bertie Armstrong, SFF chief executive, said: “This is very much one of the missing elements of the restrictive new regulations applied for 2009, which were introduced without any thought or proper economic analysis given to the actual impact they would have on the fishing industry.
“We therefore welcome this new economic impact study. There can always be a choice in the severity and speed of introduction of new control measures, and this is why a socio-economic analysis of the effects are essential. Otherwise, there is a real danger that instead of treating the patient, the medicine administered will end up killing it.”
