SCOTTISH and English fishermen yesterday were split over signing away Britain's rights to the Atlantic ocean around Rockall.

Scottish Fishermen's Federation president Cecil Finn said the move, disclosed last week in the Press and Journal, would not mean the loss of key fishing grounds.

But members of the Grimsby-based National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations have written to Fisheries Minister Jack Cunningham claiming the surrender could cost billions in future oil, fishing and minerals rights.

The row centres on a Foreign Office decision announced last Monday in a Commons written reply to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The international treaty prevents uninhabited rocks without an economy from being used as a basis for territorial claims.

Greenpeace, which had been occupying Rockall in protest at oil and gas exploration in the North Atlantic, is delighted by the announcement.

Greenpeace has ended its 48-day occupation -the longest anyone has inhabited the outcrop -after heralding the news a partial victory.

Britain's most westerly claim will from next week be St Kilda, 100 miles off Harris. Rockall remains part of the UK because it is within 200 miles of St Kilda.

The problem for the fishing community is that the ratification means Britain will immediately have to cede fishing and mining rights to an area in a 200-mile radius of Rockall.

Most though not all, of the sea around the rock will be redefined as international waters and open to negotiation among interested parties. The decision will also reduce European fishing rights in the North Atlantic.

Barry Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, which represents 2,000 vessels in English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters, said his members were sick of the way in which the issue had been handled.

It would have been better had the Foreign Office consulted before making the decision, he said.

"Essentially, the Government has surrendered on British fishing jurisdiction," he said.

"Obviously, we would have been opposed to it in the first place, but the way it has come about without any consultation whatever has intensified anger in the industry.

"All we have had is bland assurances from MAFF that it will be all right . . . We seem to be expendable and we're sick of it.

"We've written to Jack Cunningham asking why he has allowed this to go through without any consultation and await his answer with interest."

Mr Finn said Scottish fishermen had not lost out although part of the Rockall fisheries zone will soon no longer be in UK or European Union territorial waters. He said UK fish quotas would be safeguarded.

He said the lack of consultation was annoying, although the Government had said that no public bodies had been consulted because of national security aspects.

"In reality, we have lost nothing and our quotas, which are set, will be caught in the usual Rockall areas which have been retained.

"The area which has been conceded is one which is seldom used by the Scottish fleet . . .

"The important part of all this is that the key fishing, at Rockall Bank, for example, and the areas east of Rockall, have been retained for us."

The fisheries ministry has confirmed that the UK will continue to hold control over the 12-mile limit round Rockall which remains UK territory.

Legislation might be needed if British companies want to mine the deep-sea bed under the terms of the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Greenpeace is taking legal action against the Government for granting licences in the area to companies.

It claims mining will destroy rare cold-water coral reefs. It also asserts that the Government has broken European Union directives protecting species.

The Foreign Office decision does not affect the High Court case because the mining is taking place in British territorial waters.

Greenpeace oil campaign spokesman Robbie Kelman said the areas ceded to the UN should be declared a joint non-development area for fossil fuels-the chief cause of global warming.

He added: "We welcome this. It gives the UK Government the opportunity to progress and tie in their environmental policy on protection of the world climate and their industry policy.

"At the moment, these two policies are in stark contrast. One says we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and the other is saying there should be ever-more oil exploration. It is a completely contradictory policy for the Government to follow."