East Coast seabirds and fish

Action to safeguard important East Coast seabird colonies and fish stocks from possible damage from industrial fishing for sandeels is expected to be agreed this week, Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley said earlier.

A closed area in the sensitive fishing grounds off the Firth of Forth and the Grampian Coast - feeding ground for many cliff-nesting coastal birds in the estuary - is to be established from next year. These grounds have been fished by Danish industrial fishing boats in recent years. The area - including the Isle of May and Wee Bankie fishing grounds - will be closed to sandeel fishing from April to August. This is the period that the coastal birds - including puffin, kittiwake and gannet - use the sandeels to feed their chicks.

Agreement to the closed area is expected to come at the Fisheries Council in Brussels on Thursday and Friday and follows intensive discussions with Denmark, whose vessels comprise the majority of the industrial fishing fleet. It is based on precautionary advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES).

Mr Morley visited the area at the invitation of the Scottish Fisheries Minister John Home Robertson. Mr Home Robertson said: "Elliot Morley has been working to achieve better controls over this industrial fishery for several years, and the negotiations are now coming to a successful conclusion. The Scottish Executive and MAFF are working together to protect the marine environment in the best interests of fishermen and conservationists. I am delighted that we are making this announcement in East Lothian."

Mr Morley said: "We are committed to securing sustainable management of industrial fishing and has already succeeded in gaining an annual limit to sandeel catches in the North Sea. The east coast plays host to some of the UK's most important bird habitats. Early indications show there may be an important knock-on effect from industrial fishing to sea bird breeding success and this closed area will be an important test of that. We can only move forward on the basis of good science as we fully understand that fishermen's jobs and livelihoods in Denmark depend on this fishery. I want to pay tribute to my Danish counterpart who has looked at the scientistic reports carefully and share our concerns about sustainability. When we have had a chance to see the results from this closure we will be in a good position to decide whether it would be right to press for action to safeguard others areas, for example, in the areas off the Yorkshire coast."