Seafood Shetland and the Shetland Fishermen’s Association join salmon trade body in highlighting that any accident from such a vessel would “inevitably be catastrophic”.
They are carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of Brent crude and are currently sitting on the Shetland coast while awaiting a destination.
Shetland Times reports that the seafood bodies such as Seafood Shetland and the Shetland Fishermen’s Association is joining the SSPO about concerns to Shetland Islands Council (SIC) about the laden oil tankers which are anchoring off the coast.
Around 20 per-cent of Scottish farmed salmon is produced in the Northern Isles.
The publication wrote that the issue was first raised by former councillor Dr Jonathan Wills in November last year when the Malaysian registered “Eagle Bintulu” was “drifting off Bressay and the Noss nature reserve for two full months after having loaded a cargo of crude at Sullom Voe on the 14th September”.
The BBC reported last week that the Shetland coast has become a “parking lot for floating storage” on the exposed coastline. The vessels are waiting for the oil price to pick up and have been coming to anchor laden with cargo.
Around 20 per-cent of Scottish farmed salmon is produced in Shetland. The fear is grounded is in the “MV Braer” incident of 1993. The oil tanker ran aground, and a week later a storm broke it up, spilling more than 80,000 tonnes of crude oil out to sea.
Chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) Tavish Scott told Shetland News that it was asking for “decisive action on this important matter.”
“We must ensure that the reputation for harvesting and catching in Shetland’s pristine marine environment is maintained,” he said.
