Speaking to The Shetland Times, he said there was a suspicion that it had been engineered at a high level to have the Shetlanders “pushed to the front”. “Anybody picking up a paper south would just assume that this was a scandal of Shetland fishermen and Shetland Catch. That is what they have got firmly implanted in people’s brains and there is nothing further from the truth!”

He said herring and mackerel was being “blacked” over 30 years ago when he had started. “It’s not a scandal we set up.”

There is a strong feeling in the industry that the Shetland and Scottish fleets have been harshly treated compared to other pelagic fishing nations where black fish was rife but prosecutions have not taken place.