Neil MacPhail, a fisherman from Tiree, the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides, has just invested in a vessel worth about £500,000 to make his family-run creel business more efficient in the years ahead.
The new 10m static gear creel boat, called Harbour Maid, will make what can be a treacherous journey in the Atlantic ocean setting steel traps a bit safer for the 45-year-old father-of-three and his crew, some of whom have been fishing off the island for generations.
But future of Mr MacPhail and his three employees, some of whom have young families, hangs in the balance after the Scottish Government announced it will be designating at least ten per cent of Scotland’s waters as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) by 2026 – sites where fishing will be prohibited.
Although the Tiree community could be directly impacted by these new protection zones, Mr MacPhail said there was “zero stakeholder engagement” before the proposals were announced in December last year.
A four-month consultation on HPMAs followed, which saw major backlash from island communities, fishing federations and some politicians representing Scotland’s rural areas.
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) said they would be “catastrophic”, while Gaelic quango Bòrd na Gàidhlig said Scotland’s indigenous language could be at risk with the potential loss of employment in areas with a high percentage of Gaelic speakers.
Despite their invitation to respond, many members in the fishing community said the Scottish Government’s attempt to include their input “came too late”.