Page 5 - NFF News

Ken’s Column
Another report from the former NFF President
Dear Reader,
Here we are again with some thoughts from North of the Border.
I suppose many of you like me here in Scotland were at the wedding of the year, when Megan and Harry said “I DO’’ in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, It was quite a spectacle. In our household every daily chore was put on hold, and indeed it was well worth the time spent watching TV, such a scene. It was brilliant : we Brits certainly know how to do things on a such grand scale, of which this Scot was so proud. I was also so pleased to see that Scottish langoustines were on the menu as was smoked salmon: I think a lot of the food came from Royal farms and estates. No doubt the Mozzarella that went with the aparagus spears came from Italy and the non-vintage Champagne from France, but it looked like a great menu which I would have really enjoyed. Hey ho.
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Over the last two years or so, I think I’ve mentioned the dreadful affect that the drop in oil prices has had
on the employment in the North sea oil fields. The pay-offs have been quite severe and it has been estimated that about 120,000 jobs were axed within
the oil industry, thus placing such a burden on the local and national economies. In Aberdeen it can be seen quite clearly where so many pubs and eating places have closed their doors because of this downturn.
However, a new report has confirmed that in 2016 in Aberdeen alone 9,000 workers became unemployed, one of the sharpest declines in Scotland in 2016. This new report also shows that Aberdeen’s work force has officially ‘’bounced back’’. This is good news for the local economy and the employment level is back to 76.1% having dropped to 70.3% at the worst point of the downturn. Much of the success is due in part to the rising price of oil, (at the time of writing) Brent Crude was at $ 80 / barrel and West Texas at $70.35 /barrel. We don’t take much notice of oil prices I suppose, except when filling our cars or vans, you will have noticed recently that fuel prices at the pumps are rising and are likely to continue to do so during the summer so keep watching the pump prices and think of its influence.
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The farming of salmon in Scotland is so very important to the UK economy and also very valued in Scotland. Considering this it’s little wonder that the Scottish Government has introduced a new scheme to protect this valuable asset. This new scheme includes steps to improve fish health, protect the marine environment and make sure sales of Scotland’s top food export continue to grow. Last year overseas sales of Scottish salmon were worth a record £600 million.
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There’s been collaboration between the Scottish government and the salmon farming industry to come up with a 10 year “Farmed Fish Health Framework’’, and it outlines several key areas of activity which includes the management of sea lice, which is a scourge of all fish farmers. Also being considered is the effect climate change could have on the future of fish farming, and new groups are being set up to focus on the relationship between the wild and farmed salmon activities. This element of the scheme is so important as there has been many escapes of farmed salmon into the wild and cross breeding has taken place, and the hybrids are being rod caught in many Scottish rivers. On that subject, there’s also been rod catches in Scottish rivers of Pacific Salmon, which causes concern for river fishing estates, some think it may be caused by climate change.
This new scheme was launched by Fergus Ewing MSP, the Rural Economy Secretary of Scotland at the Aquaculture UK conference in Aviemore (late May) and he highlighted the value of aquaculture to the provision of food. He said : “Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food-producing sector and one of Scotland’s great food success stories’’. Sustainability is at the heart of this framework, and as the new groups are set up, within the next three months, they are dedicated to make a success of the scheme to protect this valuable food asset.
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Throughout all the mixed and confused Brexit negotiations, which I tried to explain in the last newsletter, there’s never been any doubt as to how valuable our UK fishing grounds are to the many coastal communities. The financial value of fishing relative to the total of the UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 0.1% hardly moves the pointer on the money scale. This may well influence the attitude of our negotiators. Fishing is nevertheless so important to the UK and the sooner we get back control of our waters the better, and when we do shake off the shackles of the CFP our fishing entitlement will be more than a 40% quota, as it should be.
Ken Watmough.
July2018 5