Commenting on the announcement that fishing communities in Scotland are being given the opportunity to bid for funding worth £4.5 million, Orkney MSP and Liberal Democrat Fisheries spokesman, Liam McArthur, said:
 
“Any new funding that supports initiatives in our fishing and coastal communities is welcome.  However, SNP Ministers seem more attracted to shiny, new initiatives than ensuring those they have already launched actually deliver.
 
“As the Scottish Fishing Federation points out, the latest landing figures for the catching sector come against a backdrop of rising fuel costs.  Yet Richard Lochhead has refused to look again at the recommendations from his Fuel Task Force to establish if any of these can now usefully be taken forward.
 
“The suspicion with this Government is that it is more about the photo opportunity and less about delivery.”