Scotland’s Inshore Fisheries management, lot to learn from our Scandinavian neighbours

Humpback whales hunt by encircling a group of fish then diving underwater. Then you see hundreds of scared herrings jumping out of the water, followed by humpbacks with wide open mouths.   Photo Espen Bergersen's
For more great photos from Espen check out
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20641787  and  Espen Bergersen's website

Looking at these fantastic scenes taken in 2012 from northern Norway most people will think, that could never happen in Scotland or especially in the Firth of Clyde.
They would be completely wrong, this is exactly what happened in the Clyde just over a century ago, here’s a quote from those days.

In the 1870s the Clyde winter herring fishery was the most important in Scotland, with boats from as far away as the east coast coming to take part in the annual catch.  Fishers were not the only ones to take advantage of the multitudes of herring, as   P. Wilson describes in 1887-

“The banks are at times the scene of lively interest when visited by a shoal of whales.  On a recent occasion, as the sun was setting, a shoal of at least forty whales in pairs and hundreds of porpoises began to play, and went circling round the margin of the bank displaying their huge fins and arched backs, gracefully plunging and again reappearing a short distance off.  The porpoises, in wild leaps went several feet sheer out of the water, and then dived apparently in search of their prey. In this manner the flock of whales and porpoises went circling round for at least a distance of ten miles.”

While Norway has had a chequered history regards Whale hunting. Its Inshore fisheries management has been streets ahead of Scotland’s feeble attempts to responsibly manage its inshore fisheries. The Scottish Governments record over the past 28 years has been one of constantly giving in to the most destructive forms of fishing. Imagine allowing decades of Scallop Dredging and Bottom Trawling right through known Herring spawning grounds. We have witnessed in Scotland decades of irresponsible fisheries management with governments ignoring their legal responsibility to manage a common resource for all Scotland people.

The scenes you see in Espen Bergersens brilliant photos could once again be seen in the Clyde within a few decades, You just need some fish for Humpback Whales  to hunt and for that its simple, you need the right politicians to make the right decisions.

It’s not in mans capabilities to manage nature, the only species that needs managed is man

 Humpback whales have gathered to feed close to shore in Norway. Hundreds of the massive mammals were first spotted near Tromso in 2010 and the event has grown each year,  photographer Espen Bergersen,  has captured the marine mammals on camera. Espen's photos