Banning large fishing vessels from the Minches is a better way of conserving habitats than imposing yet another environmental designation, the managing director of fish processor Barratlantic said this week.

Donald MacLean’s comments came following a public meeting held on Barra last week during which the chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, Andrew Thin, heard of the strong opposition to the imposition of two Special Areas of Conservation in the Sound of Barra and Mingulay Reefs.

“No fisherman from Barra goes anywhere near the coral reefs or hard ground because they wouldn’t have any nets left if they did,” Mr MacLean said. “It is only the bigger boats that can do that.

“We have been looking after our fishing grounds for generations and every fisherman from Barra has joined the responsible fishing scheme.”

A much better way of safeguarding the fisheries, such as the prawn grounds near Mingulay, would be to ban trawlers powered by engines greater than 500 horsepower in size, Mr MacLean said. The issue was raised in the UK Parliament last week by Western Isles MP Angus Brendan MacNeil.

Mr MacLean also questioned SNH’s claim that the European Union had made specific requests for Scottish SACs. He also doubted SNH’s intention to reduce the areaof the SAC around Mingulay in order to ensure that prawn fisheries can still be fished.

With modern sonar technology, vessels could fish to within 100 metres of the reefs, said Duncan MacInnes, secretary of the Western Isles Fisherman’s Association, who supports the 500 horsewpower restriction. “It all depends on how the boundaries for the SAC are drawn,” he observed. “There is no reason why, in close consultation with the industry, the boundaries should include fisheries.”

Fishermen have known about, and protected, the coral reefs for at least 40 years, said Mr MacInnes, while marine surveys had only discovered them 18 months ago.

Barra councillor Donald Manford said there were “real concerns” in the local community that these designations would create restrictions which would seriously damage the fishing industry.

He added: “We are trying to prevent the proposals outright, but we are finding it difficult to make out who asked for these designations in the first place. We have been told the EC is demanding this, but we need proof that this is the case.”