Scotland has introduced unprecedented fishing restrictions in a move to defuse a “prawn war” between west coast trawlers and their North Sea counterparts.
A severe shortage of prawn off Scotland’s east coast this year prompted about 50 additional North Sea fishing vessels to head to the country's west coast, where locals feared their presence would deplete the prawn catch well before its conclusion in September.
Scotland’s west coast, whose fisherman are limited in their time at sea under European Union’s cod recovery plan, lodged complaints with Marine Scotland, saying the North Sea vessels were using up the region's time limits as they trawled for prawn.
The agency responded Friday by restricting for the first time the ability of North Sea vessels to trawl west coast waters.
