On Friday 1 October 2010, Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead hosted his ministerial colleagues from Denmark, Norway and the UK for crucial fisheries management talks. This conference of North Sea Fisheries Ministers was held at the Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeenshire.
Along with representatives of other North Sea nations, the topics discussed included:
- the need to reduce and bring an end to the economic and ecological madness of discarding;
- the requirement for greater regional cooperation in fisheries management; and,
- the case to promote regionally suitable management tools.
Alongside the Fisheries Ministers from the UK, Norway and Denmark, Mr Lochhead presented a joint declaration to European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, who was making her first official visit to the UK.
The Ardoe Declaration sets out that:
- Member states should take all possible steps to account for and manage catches by their fishing fleets - without the discarding of dead fish back in to the sea
- The 'catch less land more' trials by Scotland and others can reduce discards and increase revenue, while encouraging more sustainable fishing
- Effective fisheries management in the North Sea should be results-based, with states determining how to achieve shared objectives, in coordination with each other
- New models need to be developed for regionalised fisheries management, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach