Scottish fishermen’s representatives were adamant on Tuesday that Brexit would be good news for the 5,000 strong fleet, despite warnings that the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s departure from the EU could hurt fisheries.

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said that leaving the EU would give fleets “the ability to recover proper, sustainable, rational stewardship through our own exclusive economic zone for fisheries”, comparing the situation with Norway and Iceland, which share many key North Sea fishing grounds and are not members of the EU, though they are in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Armstrong said Scottish fishermen were strongly against staying in the EU, even though the country as a whole voted strongly for remain. “It must not be forgotten that the whole of the Scottish fishing community, who sustainably harvest seafood from some of the best fishing grounds in the world, does not agree with this stance [on remaining in the EU] in the slightest,” he said.

British fishermen warned Brexit will not mean greater catches Read more

“For Scotland’s economically important fishing industry, we believe the new opportunities presented by the referendum result are overwhelmingly for the better,” he said.

He warned Scottish parliamentarians to “carefully consider all views as they make their decisions on the way forward” and held out the promise that “the ills of past overfishing and incoherent regulation could be banished” if the UK was able to make its own decisions on fishing after leaving the EU.

He called for politicians across the UK to embrace the referendum result and use it to the benefit of the fishing industry, which employs about 11,000 people directly in the UK. “We are witnessing another form of project fear, when instead we should be working on the details of how we, at long last, make the best out of the new leadership opportunities presented.”

However, Scotland and the rest of the UK are likely to face complex negotiations on how to manage fish stocks outside the EU’s common fisheries policy, as most of the main open-sea fishing grounds are shared with other countries, including Norway and Iceland but also EU nations. If the UK is to join the EEA, as many in the Brexit camp hope, it will be required to follow strict rules, including regulations on dividing up the North Sea’s fish stocks.

SNP MP Paul Monaghan, told the Guardian that while he understood fishermen’s grievances, leaving the EU meant missed opportunities for Scottish fishermen.

He said: “Scotland’s fishing industry is right to feel aggrieved at the way it has been treated in the past, and by the abject failure to be effectively represented in Europe by the UK Government. Following the Brexit vote, the UK’s fishing fleet is unlikely to see any significant change within the next two years, or potentially longer, depending on when the UK Government chooses to progress Article 50.”

He added that, if the UK had remained within the EU, the common fisheries policy would have changed, potentially in Scotland’s favour, in any case.

“The common fisheries policy was due to be renegotiated in 2020 and that offered a significant opportunity to deliver a policy that finally worked for the UK’s fishing industry. As things currently stand, that opportunity is now lost and, in the longer term, the industry may experience a prolonged period of uncertainty in respect of markets, quotas and exporting outside of Europe. The Brexit vote has done no favours to an industry that was previously described, and treated, as “expendable” by numerous UK Governments and that treatment must end.”

He said his party was working to restore a deal with Europe over Scotland’s position, but this could not be guaranteed. “Without support from the common fisheries policy, and the ability to access the single market, the long term future could be bleak. Without a market there is no industry.”

Green campaigners called for a focus on sustainable catches for fishing fleets, that would allow fish stocks to recover from decades of overfishing. Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, told the Guardian: “It’s becoming very clear that dealing with the fall-out from the EU referendum on fishing and many other issues is going to take some time to sort out. However, if Scotland is to have the healthy seas needed to support a fishing industry then it’s clear that sustainable quotas will still be needed along with coherent plans for maintaining and conserving the wider marine environment.”