Normally after the annual Fisheries Council talks in Brussels, the fishing industry knows what it has to contend with in the coming year in terms of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quota. However, this year a disagreement with Norway over access for Norwegian vessels to Scottish waters, means that the job is barely half done.

January will see the resumption of negotiations between the EU and Norway and it is these negotiations that will see the setting of TACs for the main shared whitefish stocks in the North Sea. Until agreement is reached, interim quotas of 65% of the 2009 figure were agreed for stocks including North Sea cod, North Sea haddock, herring and mackerel, to ensure that Scottish fishermen can continue to go to sea until the talks are concluded.

Overall there was a mixed bag of results, including increases for some of the highest value stocks including langoustines, monkfish and megrim.

Once the talks are concluded, the most likely outcome appears to be more North Sea cod and saithe, and less haddock and whiting. On the West Coast there will be slightly more cod, but again less haddock and whiting. The critical langoustine fisheries will see a virtual roll over of quota in the North Sea and a 15% reduction on the West Coast.

The coming year also sees a major difference in that the EU fleet will not be permitted to enter the Norwegian zone during January, and the Norwegians will be excluded from EU waters. This may change the product mix available in the first few weeks of the year, as boats that normally fish the Norwegian sector are forced to look to alternative grounds. It may also mean more effort being deployed to the Westerly grounds and Rockall, but that will depend crucially upon the weather.

Next year also sees a reduction in the number of days available to the fleet and especially the whitefish vessels operating in the North Sea, and this may affect the flow of supply to the market.

Government has declared its intention to continue working with industry to ease the burden of the effort restrictions, by enabling them to buy back days in return for signing up to conservation measures. On a positive note, the Council gave the go ahead for 'catch less, land more' trials, which Scotland has been promoting as a way of rewarding fishermen for their conservation efforts. In return for catching and discarding less, fishermen will be allowed to land and earn more.

Most industries faced with the above cocktail would lapse into depression, but resilience is an inherent factor in the seafood industry and hopefully there will be positives as well as negatives in the coming year.

As European markets move out of recession there is hope that prices will start to improve, although langoustine aside, the prices paid for megrims and monks on the Continent have not shown the downward trend associated with the domestic market. Hopefully Iceland will take a more responsible attitude to the way in which it markets its fish and although the Barents Sea will produce more cod and haddock in the coming year, the global demand for fish is still increasing.

Fishermen and processors need now more than ever, to maximise the value of the landed product and to balance carefully the supply and demand equation. Better marketing is generally recognised as a critical factor in the future success and viability of the industry, and this must be a major goal for the coming year, with active co-operation from all sectors.

Decisions taken at the December talks include:

• Rollover of quota for the £46.9 million Scottish Langoustine (nephrops) industry but a 15% cut in the west coast quota (as the West Coast fleet only fished 60-65 per cent of its quota this year this cut may have no economic impact)
• 10 per cent increase for megrim east and west
• Rollover for monkfish quota with 5% flexibility east and west, allowing west coast fishermen to catch an additional 460 tonnes
• 25 per cent cut in west coast haddock (instead of the proposed 54 per cent reduction)
• Reduction in TAC over 2 years for West of Scotland haddock to meet the requirements of the long term management. This means 25% in 2010, with a further reduction in 2011 pending stock science.
• The Commission agreed to consider a set of West Coast whitefish measures as an alternative to those applied in January 2009 (now rolled over for 18 months). The work will be presented via the NWWRAC.
• Agreement with Norway to permit 5% cod to enable a catch quota trial based on CCTV or full observer coverage, will be pursued by the Commission on behalf of the UK, Denmark and Germany. Quota for other stocks in such a trial will have to be provided by scientific quota.
• Previously agreed cuts to days at sea by 10% and 25% for east and west respectively, although an exemption was secured for 40 per cent of the west coast langoustine fleet (67 boats).
• Agreement from the Commission to re-visit emergency technical measures re-imposed on the west coast at the November Council

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