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Daily Record
Dave King
27th January 2003
Trawlermen fury at cash deal
ANGRY protesters heckled First Minister Jack McConnell as he met crisis-hit fishermen for the first time yesterday.
He was booed as he was ushered into a meeting with members of the industry in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. More than 50 campaigners brandished placards saying "Show us the colour of your money Jack" and "Save our fishing fleet, sink the EU".
He had a heated one-hour meeting with representatives of trawlermen who fear bankruptcy after quotas of cod and haddock were slashed to try and conserve North Sea stocks.
The industry is in line for a £50million compensation package, due to be announced tomorrow.
It is only half what fishermen's leaders had been demanding and wanted to hear yesterday.
And, in a further blow, a major part of the new deal will be a decommissioning scheme aimed at reducing the fleet by 15 per cent.That follows a one-in-10 reduction two years ago.
Outside the meeting yesterday, one fisherman said: "Our protest today is a fight for our own survival.If the cuts go ahead, the town the First Minister sees today will be wiped out."
McConnell left the meeting smiling yesterday, but the fishing families were unhappy with the talks.
Fisherman's wife Carol MacDonald said: "We were told the compensation package will be slighter bigger than the one two years ago. But he told us that not everyone would be pleased with the amount."
SNP fishing spokesman Richard Lochhead said the Executive should press the Government for access to more funds from Europe.
McConnell said: "The Daily Record have campaigned hard for the Scottish fishing communities and we're determined to not just support them over the coming months but to speak up for Scotland in Europe and get the right decisions for our communities."
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