27 September 2015

Embargo: 00.01am Wednesday 28 October 2015

Academic supports fishermen against fishing ground closures

A leading academic at a Scottish University has warned that evidence from around the
world proves that environmental measures imposed by governments against the wishes of
the local people do not work.
Dr Magnus Course, who is a senior lecturer in social anthropology at the University of
Edinburgh, was reacting to a list of Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) produced by Marine
Scotland. The MPAs would restrict or forbid fishing in several important areas around the
Western Isles and the West Coast of Scotland.
Dr Course said the Scottish government should be aware that: Decades of
anthropological research from around the globe have made clear that environmental
designations are most effective when carried out in cooperation with local communities.
When they are simply imposed on communities, people and environment are placed in
opposition to one another. Both inevitably suffer. There is absolutely nothing natural
about an environment from which people have been actively excluded.
The Western Isles Fishermens Association (WIFA) has already warned that fragile
communities would suffer huge losses with no environmental gain if the MPAs were
imposed on the islands.
Last month fishermens leaders gave evidence to MSPs on the Rural Affairs, Climate
Change and Environment Committee in the Scottish Parliament. They said the statistics
produced by Marine Scotland to justify the closure of vital fishing grounds around the
islands and West Coast were fundamentally flawed.

The Secretary of WIFA, Duncan MacInnes, told the committee: The closure of several key
fishing areas would result in dozens of job losses among island fishermen and also
threaten the viability of two onshore processing plants that employ more than 70 staff.
After hearing the evidence, the RACCE committee wrote to the Environment Secretary,
Richard Lochhead, demanding to know why the measures were necessary.
Dr Course warned: By seeking to impose environmental designations without due regard
to the cultural, linguistic, economic, and social value of fishing to these fragile
communities, the government is returning to a model of regulation that is decades out of
date. I would urge the Scottish Government to follow the example of other European
governments. They should take this opportunity to look for environmental solutions which
build upon the sustainable fishing practices that Hebridean communities have been
practicing for centuries.
He added: Take for example, the voluntary ban on fishing in the Eriskay straits after the
completion of the causeway in 2000. Local fishermen understood the importance of the
straits as a safe ground for fish and shellfish, and voluntarily agreed not to fish there. This
agreement has been respected up to the present day.
For further information please contact:
John Morrison on 07740 096046
NOTE TO EDITORS

The best-known studies of failed protection areas are Stegborn on Sri Lanka, McLean &
Straede on Nepal and Fabricius & deWest on South Africa.
Further details available from Dr Magnus Course on 07789 721883
For interviews with Duncan MacInnes please call him on 01851 702385 or 07748
332595.