THIS shopper would have been well advised to snap up a bargain quickly in Anderson's fish shop, on West Nile Street, as fish wars broke out.

The battle that sent the cost of haddock and cod soaring was in full flow in February 1981 when British trawlermen threatened to blockade UK ports in protest against the dumping of cheap fish from the Continent.

Scottish fishing leaders went to London to demand an immediate government ban on the sudden influx of fish going directly , at rock bottom

prices, to the country's fish merchants.

When 200 boats were tied up in Fraseburgh, Buckie and Peterhead harbours, there was no cod to be had in Glasgow.Shortages at other times led to prices of 60p and 65p per pound for haddock soaring to more than £1, with the price of a fish supper jumping from 75p to £1.20 in just a few days.

The protest came after trawlermen said the prices being paid for fish dropped so low they did not even cover the fuel costs of the voyage.

They said fleets from other Common Market countries ignored conservation and policy controls.