Scotland's fishing industry
Trawling for new ideas
Oct 15th 2009 PETERHEAD
From The Economist print edition
A chance to change Europe’s sclerotic fisheries policy
Reuters
For how much longer?
IN THE pre-dawn gloom while the rest of the town still slumbers, the fish market at Peterhead is a blaze of light and activity. Buyers inspect the freshly-landed ice-packed fish, and boat skippers look on anxiously as the auctioneer briskly sells some 4,000 40-kilogram boxloads each day. It looks busy enough—beyond the market a new quay is being built to handle bigger boats—but the fishermen are not happy. “A year or so ago, you would get £3-4 a box for cod, but now you are struggling to get £2,” says Ian Gatt, skipper of the Solstice, who trawls mainly for white fish such as cod, haddock, saithe and whiting (see article).
Away from the market, the talk is of how the industry’s spokesmen are getting on in Brussels. The European Commission, which sets the rules for how many fish can be caught in EU waters, was due to publish its 2010 proposals for the North Sea on October 16th. Negotiations on these and other suggestions will reach a climax in December, when fishing ministers from all over the European Union attempt to persuade the commission not to make big cuts in their fleets’ catches. This year the annual dance could take a new turn.
In April the commission admitted what everyone else had been saying for years: that its Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has failed. Too many boats have been chasing too few fish, meaning that 88% of commercially caught species are being fished beyond their maximum sustainable yield. Bribes for scrapping trawlers have not worked: though the European fleet is shrinking by 2% a year, the boats that remain are getting better at catching fish. ');
The CFP limits how long a boat can be at sea and sets quotas for how much it can catch, and of what. But since different fish swim together, many for which a boat has no quota have to be dumped overboard. That includes about 45% of the cod caught in the North Sea last year, even though it is one of the most commercially valuable species and also in danger of extinction.
To replace this mess, the commission now says that national governments should do more to manage their own fisheries. Scotland, whose fishermen catch about two-thirds of the fish landed at British ports, is already trying out a new approach. In 2008 a voluntary conservation regime was put in place, the first of its kind in European waters. Areas where cod were known to breed were made off limits during spawning months. Fishermen also agreed to report unusually high concentrations of cod so a zone around the shoals could be closed temporarily. In return, they are given extra days at sea. They are also testing new nets designed to allow cod to swim free while capturing other white fish. “It is having a really positive effect on sustaining the stocks,” says Mr Gatt.
Despite the experiment, the EU was expected this week to reduce days at sea by around a tenth in the North Sea and by more off the west coast of Scotland. With fuel prices high and fish prices low, this would push the fleet to the edge of viability, says Bertie Armstrong, head of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation. Prawn-catchers will be cut back too because, though prawns (Scotland’s main catch) are plentiful, those who fish for them also snare cod.
But if Scotland’s new scheme can be shown to work and as a result fewer cod are accidentally caught, Richard Lochhead, the Scottish fisheries minister, hopes to persuade the commission to let fishermen claim back the proposed loss of time. They would earn extra days at sea in return for stepping up their conservation efforts.
Fishing is a niche business these days, accounting for less than 1% of Scotland’s GDP. The whitefish fleet has shrunk by 31% over the past decade. But towns like Peterhead still rely on the trawlers that come back at first light and the men who skipper them. It is not only the survival of fish species that depends on new thinking.
译文:
捕捉新策
苏格兰的渔业
捕捉新策
2009年10月15日 彼得黑德
摘自《经济学人》印刷版
一场改变欧洲僵化渔业政策的机遇。
路透社
还需多久?
在黎明前的黑暗时分，彼得黑德镇的鱼市场会显得灯火通明，热火喧天，而其他地方却仍是处于寂静状态。每天，正当拍卖商在轻而易举地销售4000多箱重达40千克的冰冻鱼时，买家则是在精挑细选刚刚到达的装箱冰冻鱼，而船长却是焦虑不安地在旁驻足观看。鱼市场外，一个吞吐更为巨型船只的新型码头已在建设当中。一切看起来真是忙透了。不过，渔民也是愁眉不展。至日（Solstice）号船船长伊恩-盖特（Ian Gatt）表示：“大约一年前，一箱鳕鱼可赚取3-4英镑，但现在挣到2英镑就很困难。”伊恩主要是运用拖网捕捉白鱼，如鳕鱼，黑线鳕，绿青鳕和牙鳕等等。
在远离鱼市场外的地方，渔业界发言人在布鲁塞尔如何表现则是人们竞相谈论的话题。欧盟委员会预计将在10月16日公布2010年北海捕鱼提案。欧盟水域的捕鱼量是由欧盟委员会制定。关于以上事宜以及其他建议的磋商将在12月份达到高潮。届时，来自欧盟成员国的渔业部长将会试图说服委员会不要在他们国家的捕鱼区域大幅削减捕鱼量。今年的年度舞会将会迎来一个新转机。
4月，欧盟委员会对公众议论多年的问题公开承认：欧盟共同渔业政策（CFP）失败。船多鱼少的局面意味着，渔船商业捕鱼量的88％就已逾越了鱼类的最高可持续产量。收买渔民无法奏效：尽管欧洲捕捞船只数量正以每年2％的速度递减，但现余船只的捕鱼技术越来越娴熟。
欧盟共同渔业政策限定了渔船在海上航行的时间，设置了捕鱼数量配额，并标明了可捕鱼类的配额。不过，由于不同鱼类游到一起，捕捞船只不得不将未列入配额中的鱼种倾倒大海。去年，渔船在北海捕获鳕鱼数量的45％左右都被重新放入水中，尽管正濒临灭绝边缘的鳕鱼是最具商业价值的鱼种之一。
欧盟委员会表示，各国政府应在管理本国渔业上付诸更多努力，方可结束当前乱局。苏格兰已在尝试实行一项新方案，该国渔民会将约占捕鱼总量的2/3运抵英国港口。2008年，苏格兰实施了一种自愿保护机制，此举在欧洲海域尚属首次。在鳕鱼产卵时的几个月，对渔民熟知的鳕鱼繁殖区域设置禁区。渔民也同意对鳕鱼异常聚集行为加以报告，鱼群周围的区域便可得以暂时关闭。作为回报，他们可以获得在海上捕鱼的额外天数。他们还在测验一些既可捕获其他白鱼又能放生鳕鱼的新式鱼网。盖特认为：“这正对维持鱼类库存产生积极的影响。”
尽管一切尚在实验当中，欧盟预计将在本周做出渔船在北海捕鱼天数减少1/10和在苏格兰西海岸减少更多的决定。苏格兰渔民联合会负责人伯蒂-阿姆斯特朗（Bertie Armstrong）认为，由于油价过高，鱼价偏低，此举将促使捕鱼船队处在生存的边缘。捕虾船只数量也将会削减，因为它们捕获的也是鳕鱼，尽管当地海域盛产明虾（苏格兰渔民的渔获对象）。
不过，如果苏格兰的新机制能够被证明行之有效，鳕鱼捕获量因此意外减少，苏格兰渔业部长理查德-洛奇赫德（Richard Lochhead）则希望能够说服欧盟委员会允许渔民索回他们所损失的时间。渔民还将因加紧开展鱼类保护工作换取额外的出海天数。
目前，渔业占据苏格兰国内生产总值（GDP）的1％不到，但是该国一个具有相当重要位置的行业。过去十年，白鱼渔船数量已经减少了31％。但诸如彼得黑德一样的许多城镇仍然依赖于晨曦归来的拖网渔船和驾驶渔船的船长。这不仅仅是鱼类依赖新思维生存的问题。