THE proposal from Lord Provost George Adam to erect a permanent memorial in Aberdeen to the place of the fishing industry in the city’s history is commendable.
Respecting the past, and the people who contributed to it, is an essential prerequisite for shaping the future.
This is a good time to remember that Aberdeen’s identity and prosperity were built around the fishing industry long before North Sea oil was heard of.
While the glory days will never be recaptured, the fishing and fish processing industries remain extremely important to employment and prosperity in both city and region.
A problem for the industry’s image is that we only tend to hear about the bad news.
The fishing fraternity’s representatives have long been extremely efficient at highlighting whatever problems or injustices have arisen at any particular time, whether these emanate from Edinburgh, Whitehall or Brussels.
What this tends to disguise is that the North-east fishing industry is currently in rather a healthy condition, having survived the vagaries of quotas and regulation – as well as some self-inflicted wounds – over the past couple of decades.
The challenge now is to add value to the catch, in both monetary and employment terms. There are several major new investments planned, not least at Peterhead harbour.
Last year, the Scottish fishing industry – overwhelmingly based in the North-east – landed more than half a billion pounds worth of fish.
This was 18 per cent up on the previous year in value and 31 per cent in volume.
These are not the statistics of an industry in decline.
A big factor was the plentiful stocks of mackerel but that is not the whole story.
There have also been recoveries in these white fish staples of the North-east ports, haddock and cod – the latter having been taken off its “threatened species” list by the Marine Conservation Society.
Long-term sacrifices have at least brought some ultimate benefit.
Two big issues now face the industry.
First there is the extension of the ban on discards at sea – long regarded as a scandalous by-product of the EU quota regime.
This will present challenges but also opportunities for technical innovation and the marketing of new products.
Then there is the EU referendum. Perhaps surprisingly, given all the recrimination about “Brussels” over the years, the industry largely favours staying in.
This contributes to the polling evidence that 74 of North-east firms want to remain in the EU, well above the national average.
In last year’s Scottish independence referendum, the fishing industry faced up to the reality that being represented by one of the big players in the EU has more upsides than disadvantages.
This time, the question will be whether the frustrations inflicted by EU negotiations are more or less important than the markets which membership underpins.
There is likely to be a fairly decisive answer.