Fishing organisations reel in political support to protect Scotland’s coastal communities

A HIGHLY motivated coalition of Scotland’s fishing charities and federations descended on Holyrood to share their concerns about the Scottish Government’s controversial fishing ban with the aid of Scottish PR experts.

Led by the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation (SFF), some of the sector’s most influential voices came together to protest against the proposed Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) policy, which planned to ban fishing, aquaculture and harvesting in at least 10% of the country’s coastal waters.

Support against the controversial HPMA policy was captured through a petition, which not only recorded many MSPs and supporters of the collation, but also provided stellar media opportunity with some of the major politicians putting pen to paper.

The carefully planned call to action proved a huge success and resulted in the Scottish Government back tracking on their original proposal for the HPMA fishing ban.

Furthermore, the rally resulted in outstanding digital community engagement and a host of coverage across local, regional and national media outlets, as well as sector specific press:

• 390 sign-ups and signatures from politicians, stakeholders and coastal communities
• 46 items of coverage
• 8,491,963 opportunities to see across national, local and specialist publications
• Major national coverage in The Scotsman and The Scottish Daily Express
• Achieved key features in local and regional publications including Grampian Online, Angus County World, The Oban Times and Shetland News.

The coalition planned a demonstration outside of parliament with a banner displaying its key campaign message, ‘HPMAs – Scarp the Ban’. The group received mass cross-party backing as MSPs from all political allegiances came out in support of the demonstrators.

Our Scottish PR experts played an integral part in driving this successful demonstration, with our team sourcing and designing the banner (which will now be reused for future rallies).

To ensure maximum publicity, key members of the media were invited to attend the rally and interview some of the demonstrators, such as the CEO of the SFF, Elspeth Macdonald.

A media release calling upon support against HPMAs was drafted and distributed to regional news titles the following day – with a link to the petition woven into the press materials.

The resulting coverage and both public and political support for the petition is an invaluable asset to the SFF and the coalition in its fight against HPMAs.

Among the supporters were the party leaders for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour – who expressed their public backing for the movement.

The call to action was a massive undertaking and required a huge level of adaptability and flexibility in order to create a petition, source a banner and attract political and media interest.

The sign-up success rate has also been impeccable, with 390 signatures from politicians, stakeholders and coastal communities expressing their support for the coalition.

Overall, the call to action marked an important milestone for Scotland’s fishing sector and the SFF – ultimately sending the Scottish Government back to the drawing board with its controversial policy.

Our Scottish PR team were front and centre in ensuring the rally was a success and has set a precedent for future demonstrations to come. 

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