Subordinate Legislation — Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland) Scheme 2003 — Sea Fishing (Transitional Support) (Scotland) (No 2) Scheme 2003

Part of Introduction – in the Scottish Parliament at 11:06 am on 5 March 2003.

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Photo of Richard Lochhead Richard Lochhead Scottish National Party 11:06, 5 March 2003

If that is the best that the member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine can come up with, I suggest that he sit on his backside for the rest of the debate.

If we want a fishing industry that continues to employ 44,000 people—mostly in our fragile coastal communities—and which supplies healthy food for our table, we have to help it through the coming months.

Ross Finnie must be the only fishing minister in Europe to contemplate spending 80 per cent of his aid package on destroying his fishing vessels. Other countries are building new fishing vessels; our minister wants to spend £40 million of taxpayers' cash writing off his own fishing fleet.