I am 62 years old. There are many problems in Scotland s fishing industry, but I think the main one is the way it is run. If you work on a boat your boss is the skipper, yet you are classed as self employed. The decommissioning of boats is also a major problem. It s fine in theory as a means of reducing the size of the fishing fleets, but some of those whose boats are decommissioned go out straight away and build another boat.
Skippers get good money for the decommissioning of their boats, but the crew get nothing.
We need a redundancy programme where all the men on the boat are compensated. The life of a crew member on a boat is one of the hardest jobs in the country. You can work up to 20 hours a day, five days a week or more. It is possible to make a decent wage, but often it is for very little money. We need a change in working conditions.