Fishing licences
It has been brought to my attention that fishing licences can no longer be sold on the open market, meaning that many fishermen in the Western Isles are going to face the double whammy of collapsing prices and the inability to realise their major asset, if they try to leave the industry.
The Scottish Government introduced a restriction on the sale of fishing licences, whereby the licence cannot be sold outside Scotland, except in "special circumstances", and the announcement was slipped out as a small paragraph in new regulations that are now being applied.
This was raised at a meeting with the Minister in Uist recently, but as far as can be discerned there has been no clarity over "special circumstances" and neither the MP and MSP havenot pursued the matter.
This could have potentially expensive consequences, especially if you are trying to change a boat and need to alter the licence that goes with it, and the only buyer is outside Scotland.
In the circumstances of a proposed 'swap' of boat and licence with someone in, say, South Shields or Belfast, the local fisherman could find himself unable to deal, which could make a whole mockery of the proposals.
Is this a case of the legislation not acting as intended, or is it simply an ill-thought out proposal?
Are their other industries to which similar restrictions are to be applied?
And, is any of this legal in terms of the Single European Market?
The Scottish Government introduced a restriction on the sale of fishing licences, whereby the licence cannot be sold outside Scotland, except in "special circumstances", and the announcement was slipped out as a small paragraph in new regulations that are now being applied.
This was raised at a meeting with the Minister in Uist recently, but as far as can be discerned there has been no clarity over "special circumstances" and neither the MP and MSP have
This could have potentially expensive consequences, especially if you are trying to change a boat and need to alter the licence that goes with it, and the only buyer is outside Scotland.
In the circumstances of a proposed 'swap' of boat and licence with someone in, say, South Shields or Belfast, the local fisherman could find himself unable to deal, which could make a whole mockery of the proposals.
Is this a case of the legislation not acting as intended, or is it simply an ill-thought out proposal?
Are their other industries to which similar restrictions are to be applied?
And, is any of this legal in terms of the Single European Market?
9 comments:
How do you know the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter? Do you regularly check through their mailbags and letters?
Provide proof.
I don't want to be the grammar police, but 'neither the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter'.....!!!! I suspect that's supposed to mean they've done nothing but it actually translates as 'neither the two of them hasn't done anything'. So, huv they or huv they no?
Guilty as charged for a double negative. Thank you for pointing this out, and it has now been corrected.
"How do you know the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter?" asks anonymous 12.02pm.
When an MP or MSP pursues any matter, there is a fanfare of trumpets, the issuing of a self-congratulatory press release, an unseemly rush to radio interview and inclusion in the 'What I did this busy month' piece in the local rag. The absence of any of these occurrences confirms that the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter.
They might act now of course - if they read this blog or know someone who does - and you can read the obligatory press release verbatim in the local rag.
Correct me if I'm wrong but were these licences not free in the beginning?
they were traditionally free, but you had to be quick!
they were traditionally free, but you had to be quick!
"and neither the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter..."
Reading grammar like that makes me feel drunk.
"and neither the MP nor the MSP have pursued the matter", surely?
Of the veracity of the statement itself, I dinnae ken...
"...realise their major asset..."
Don't you mean profiteering out of a monopoly?
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