SCOTTISH skippers have been granted a vital reprieve from the forced deportation of foreign fishermen working on their boats.
An action plan, which will give Scotland's fishing fleets a breathing space to avoid critical crew shortages, has been agreed with the Home Office, following the intervention of Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Fisheries Secretary.
For several years
a number of Scottish trawlers have relied on Filipino and Eastern European fishermen to help crew their boats because of a shortage of local trained crewmen.
Concerns about the use of foreign crewmen were first raised in August last year following the deaths of two Filipino fishermen and a Latvian crewman in a fire on board a trawler at Fraserburgh harbour.
Following routine inspections by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) over March and April this year, the owners of 20 fishing boats in Britain, including an unspecified number of Scottish vessels, received enforcement letters ordering that their Filipino crewmen should be repatriated by a deadline of 2 July.
But yesterday the Scottish Government announced that the repatriation orders had been put on hold following talks between Mr Lochhead and Phil Woolas, the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration.
A Government spokesman said: "The UK Border Agency has now written again to vessel owners who were recently issued with notices to repatriate their Filipino crew, giving them more time while further consideration is given to the matter."
Mr Lochhead said: "I welcome Mr Woolas' commitment to work with the Scottish Government and the UK Border Agency to resolve this difficult situation."
The reprieve was welcomed by Bertie Armstrong, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation. He said: "We are working as hard as possible with the Scottish Government to reinvigorate recruitment to the industry, but fishing is not for everyone and the process will take time."
