Press & Journal 13th July 1999

SCOTS SKIPPERS COUNT THE COST OF SCALLOP BAN

Build-up of toxins sparked action

by Bob Kennedy

THE West Coast shellfish industry is counting the cost of a large-scale scallop fishing ban imposed because of a build-up of toxins. Six workers have already been laid off from Ardmore Fish in Mull following the Scottish Executive ban on fishing for the shellfish in much of the West Coast grounds.

The no-fishing zone which affects a wide area between the Outer Hebrides and the West Coast as far south as Islay and Jura has been ordered because of a build-up of naturally occurring amnesic shellfish poisoning toxins.

Boats that normally fish the scallop grounds are being forced to tie up, switch species or find other fishing areas. And there are fears that Scots producers might lose their foothold in the important French market if the ban the first of its kind to affect the area goes on for long.

The ban is based on scientific advice following test results from the Governments sampling programme that showed the ASP toxin had reached a level at which there was a risk to consumers. Only scallops and queen scallops are affected and no other commercially marketed shellfish come under the ban, which came into effect at 5pm on Friday.

But Robert Stevenson, chief executive of the West of Scotland Fish Producer Organisation, described the ban as a knee-jerk reaction. And he claimed the affected area was far too large. In the South Minch, for example, only four out of 10 sea squares sampled had been found to be above the safety threshold.

Mr Stevenson said he had fired off an immediate protest to the Scottish fisheries department saying he appreciated the public-health concerns raised by the issue but protesting that the inflexible way in which the ban had been imposed despite the fact that several areas had not been sampled would cause considerable difficulties for his members.

Part of my call to the Scottish Executive is that, where deep-water scallops are not affected, then these areas should be opened immediately for catching purposes, he said.

In any case, deep-water scallops are thought to be less susceptible to ASP. And all in all, I feel this ban represents a reaction which has not been properly thought through.

Mr Stevenson said fears over the ban were spreading quickly through the fleet and skippers who depended on scallops did not know where they stood. All skippers could do was tie up or switch to species already under catching pressure.

Later, a spokesman for the fisheries department confirmed that this was the first case of ASP poisoning in the area, although there had been paralytic shellfish poisoning in the past.

He added: The next step is to organise further tests in the area to check the extent of the poisoning. Scallops stocks should not be too affected as the poisons naturally flush out themselves, the spokesman said.

The health checks were being carried out by environmental health and fisheries inspectors. EU regulations stated that no shellfish should be marketed when the amount of domoic acid is higher than 20 microgrammes per gram, the spokesman said. Some of the stock tested had shown levels of of about 90.

Bill Langford, owner of Ardmore Fish, in Mull, said the situation was worrying and he had been forced to lay off his six workers. We cannot buy any scallops and we cannot move any and there are no boats fishing for them, he said.

There are no indications of how long the ban will last but clearly we will lose customers if we cannot supply them.