MCS: Placing proportionate limits on bottom-towed fishing could help boost long-term jobs in fragile rural communities, as well as protect the environment, contend a coalition of Scottish charities. The Scottish Government is due to announce measures for managing fishing in several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) later this month. Scottish Environment LINK’s Marine Taskforce has written to the Scottish Parliament with the findings of an economic review which highlights the benefits that protection of seabed habitats could provide.

Drawing on the report, the environmental groups say that if the Scottish Government ends the practice of towing heavy fishing gear, such as mechanical dredges and weighted demersal trawl nets, across protected fragile seabed habitats, then there could be substantial knock-on benefits for local economies.

The link to the report is here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_RuralAffairsClimateChangeandEnvironmentCommittee/20151023_Scot_Env_LINK_letter_on_MPAs.pdf

Press release: http://www.mcsuk.org/press/view/659