SCOTLAND’S fishing leaders have urged ministers to “slam on the brakes” and halt a “stampede” into offshore wind power that they argue will damage the environment and their industry.

Seeing offshore wind power as a key plank in meeting its 2030 net zero target, the Scottish government plans to increase capacity by up to 40 gigawatts by 2040.

But responding to consultations on its Offshore Wind Policy Statement and the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) said the target was “far too high.”

SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald said: “This isn’t a plan — it’s a stampede. The government is charging ahead without the faintest idea how to protect the people and places that will be trampled in the rush.

“We’ve been telling them for years these plans will seriously damage our industry, but they haven’t listened. Now their own assessments show the harm that will be done to fishing, and the environment on which it depends.

“Until they can prove our industry and our seas will be safeguarded, the only responsible choice is to slam on the brakes.”

Ms Macdonald said that mitigation measures are almost non-existent and the industry has been pushed to “breaking point” by the combined impacts of conservation policy and carbon offsetting requirements, as well as renewables projects.

She said: “The Scottish fleet has been putting healthy, renewable and sustainable food on plates for generations.

“But we’re being shoved aside for projects that feel like a last gamble for a government to revive an ailing Scottish economy.

“The Scottish government’s approach is picking winners and losers and fishing seems to lose every time.

“We need ministers to step up and support our industry with positive action.

“Renewable food cannot be the price to be paid for renewable energy. Betting the house — and Scotland’s fishing industry — on offshore wind that is far from ‘clean’ and where all the evidence points to both known and not yet fully known environmental damage is a very high-risk strategy.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We look forward to analysing all responses to the consultations on the updated Offshore Wind Policy Statement and the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy and will publish an analysis of these in due course.”