This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New fisheries protection vessel
03/03/2004
The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency is to order a new vessel for its offshore patrol fleet.
It will be built by Ferguson Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow and is scheduled to replace Sulisker, the oldest vessel in the Agency's fleet, in December 2005.
Deputy Fisheries Minister Allan Wilson said:
"We are determined to protect the long-term viability of Scotland's fishing industry. Our ongoing commitment to protect fish stocks is key to secuting that objective.
"This new vessel represents an important step in the modernisation of the SFPA's fleet to meet this task as efficiently and effectively as possible.
"A sustainable and successful fishing industry requires the conservation of fish stocks through sound fisheries management. Fisheries enforcement plays an important part in that process and the SFPA needs to be properly equipped for the task".
The SFPA is an executive agency of the Executive's Environment and Rural Affairs Department.
Its principal role is the enforcement of fisheries legislation and regulations to help conserve fish stocks in the seas around Scotland and in Scottish ports with the long-term aim of protecting the future of the Scottish fishing industry, a most important national asset which employs over 16,000 people in fishing and fish processing.
To meet the obligations of the Common Fisheries Policy, the SFPA operates 4 patrol vessels: Sulisker, Vigilant, Norna and Minna built in 1980, 1982, 1987 and 2003 respectively.
This new vessel will be 82 metres in length and capable of carrying out fisheries surveillance in all weather throughout the Scottish Zone of British Fishery Limits and beyond when required. As with the recently commissioned Minna, she will be equipped with more modern, environmentally-friendlier diesel electric propulsion.