Mackerel wars

It's all very well trumpeting the fact that the value of fish landed last year by Scottish boats was up on previous years. The real truth is that the number of boats has dropped, along with the number of men employed on them, and profits are being squeezed by high fuel costs and a cut in the number of days boats are allowed to put to sea. Calton is just surprised anyone is still bothering to try and make a living from fishing, given how hard it now is, and what is the Scottish Government doing to help? Not a lot. Mackerel stocks, which account for a large part of the increased landings, are threatened by overfishing by Iceland and the Faroes and we as a country are dependent on the EU to do something about it rather than being able to defend our own fisheries. That doesn't give Calton a lot of confidence. Nor will becoming independent make any difference if we follow the SNP's vision of 'independence in Europe'. What we really need is a 200 mile limit and some gunboats!