SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: "The fundamentals of the fishing industry are solidly in place - there is a wonderful renewable resource which is ours to harvest and there is a hungry market for the product.
“But the bit in the middle - the industry - is buckling under the weight of fuel costs. The European framework for assistance has been built over the last few weeks and the Fuel Task Force set up by Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead is doing its work, but all this will just be words on paper unless government co-funding is committed now.
“We must break out of the cycle of receiving sympathy along with the answer that there is no money available in Scotland. There is money available if the Government has the political will to make that choice. If no funding is forthcoming, then it is inevitable that some fishing vessels will go to the wall. Where this happens, the infrastructure and community support in that area will go with it. It is a very stark choice that the Government faces.”