Writing on 13th January 2022, a note from COAST on the recent news of the closure to fishing in the Clyde during the cod spawning season:
Clyde cod closure – protection finally means protection
Closure from 13th February – 30th April 2022 and 14th Feb 2023 – 30th April 2023
Delighted by today’s announcement by Marine Scotland; cod will be able to breed undisturbed in the Firth of Clyde in Spring 2022 and 2023. We applaud Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon and the Scottish Greens for pushing this action forward – why?
For 20 years, a specific area in the Firth of Clyde has been closed to fishing to ‘protect’ spawning cod; the greatest failing in the legislation to date was the exemption to allow bottom-trawling and scallop dredging to continue thus negating any benefit from the ‘protection’. Today’s announcement, which sees the removal of these exemptions for the closure in 2022 and 2023, is a positive step and shows substantial progress by the Scottish Government to take whitefish and cod recovery seriously. Protecting habitats crucial to the life history of fish is a progressive step forward for fisheries measures historically solely focused on number of fish caught.
It is regrettable that the updated legislation includes exclusion on creel fishing in the area, without any scientific rationale. This could risk resentment within the sector and unnecessary hardship to those who fish these areas.
We hope these new measures will allow us to finally see early recovery of whitefish in the Clyde, to levels where they might once again be a viable and sustainable food source in the future.
For more information please see this link
Link to legislation here