The importance to the Torridon/Shieldaig communities of the sea and its dependant employment is emphasised by the high number of jobs (98 full time equivalent (fte)) directly related to the sea compared to the overall population of 345. Fishing and aquaculture, although weather and seasonally dependant are less affected by seasonality than the tourism sector and offer year-round employment. The economic base of the Torridon area is therefore more dependant on the natural resources of the sea than the Highlands and Scotland generally.
Whilst this study looks at the importance of the coastal waters to the local community it also links in with some of the other research going on in the area and provides a guide to future studies. The study indicates that whilst there is a lot of information available on the area, not all of it is readily accessible, either due to commercial confidentiality or lack of access at local level. The study also recognises that substantial resources are needed to provide new, detailed information. For example, a full dive study of the loch might cost in the region of £20,000 and computer modelling £10-30,000.
Given the closely related nature of many of the uses of the loch, it may be beneficial to establish a sea loch users group as a basis for systematically working through the issues and to set the groundwork for formally constituted group that ultimately could oversee local management of the loch. Coastal and fisheries management measures need to be established at an appropriate geographical level, and should take into account the need to safeguard core resources. Any proposed changes to management will need to balance local and wider interests and business development issues with important natural heritage values and other environmental constraints regarding the long term use of the loch by both the local residents and those from elsewhere.
The economic significance of the marine resources which have been highlighted here are likely to be similar in other areas on the north west coast and in the Western Isles.
Quantifying the value in these other areas must be a first step in promoting better management of coastal waters and more local involvement in this task where marine resources are a significant provider(or potential provider) of local livelihoods.
If suitable models for management can be found for Loch Torridon then they may be applicable to other areas in the Highlands and Islands which show a high dependance on the natural resources offered by the sea.
Two open meetings were held in the area in conjunction with Shieldaig & Applecross Community Council. The first meeting in May 1998 provided an outline of the purpose of the project and was attended by 25 people. The second meeting in March 1999 to give feedback to the local community on the 3 pieces of work that had been commissioned by the Minch Project on the Loch Torridon area.
Project staff introduced the 3 elements of work: the fishery audit, the site survey and the socio-economic study. By using the slides that were commissioned it was possible to show the scenic value of the area, the biodiversity that existed within the loch and the range of livelihoods that were dependant on the loch for all, or part of their living.
Of prime interest to the community were the statistics that came out of both the fishery audit and the socio-economic study.
The final part of the presentation addressed the recommendations that were being made within the report. There were a broad range of recommendations and they were all addressed but there is no doubt that the community has one overriding concern and that is the impact of trawling for nephrops within the confines of the loch. They are of no doubt that this one activity presents the greatest threat to all their livelihoods and they are all keen to see a permanent exclusion of mobile gear fishermen.
Fishermen present at the meetings had a clear idea about sustaining this fishery and showed a willingness and desire to reduce their activity for the overall benefit of the loch, but only if the mobile fishermen could be excluded. Regulatory and Several Orders were discussed with fishermen stating that there was no merit in having Regulatory orders if they excluded nephrops. What they believed was required was the maximisation of each stock with a clear management strategy for each stock to allow it to be fished in a sustainable manner. All the fishermen fully supported the need for regulation. Ideally they hoped that eventually local communities could regulate themselves but in the shorter term they were keen for the Scottish Office to close the loch to mobile gear fishermen all year round.
There was a clear disappointment in the lack of speed with which the Scottish Office was moving on this and lack of replies to letters, the need to send all correspondence by registered post, all pointed to a lack of confidence in the Scottish Office to treat the matter with the importance that they wished attached to it and to which they believed it merited.
It was pointed out that the technology already exists to monitor boat movements and what is being fished for: it was quoted that this was compulsory for boats over 20 metres and could be introduced for smaller boats if there was a willingness on the part of Government. This coupled with the vigilance of the local community would mean that policing the fishery would not prove difficult.
The debate then widened out with the suggestion that the loch could serve as an open air laboratory for providing base line information which was still not comprehensive and therefore required to monitor trends but secondly, to get Government Departments involved and then hooked into the sustainability debate. There was agreement that this was worthwhile in pursuing. It was also pointed out that useful comparative data could be provided by BUTEC who were shortly going to permit some research work within the range. It should prove a useful control as fishing has been excluded from the area for at least the last 20 years.
Funding was discussed for further work and the local councillor spoke for the meeting indicating continued community support for the project.
Detailed discussion has been instigated to locate funding which will allow suitable follow-up work to be done along the lines outlined in the recommendations section of the report.
