6th September 2026
Sometimes the most interesting way of looking at a week's local news is not to examine each story separately, but to stand back and ask what it is telling us about the place.
And this week, Caithness has produced a mixture of politics, fishing, employment, community issues and questions about the future which are rather more connected than they might first appear.
Perhaps the most striking story is not actually about a new investment or an exciting development.
It is about the possible disappearance of something that has been part of Wick for more than 200 years.
The Saltire and the possible end of an era
Mark Thain, the owner and skipper of the Saltire, has put his boat up for sale.
That might sound like a relatively small business story. It isn't.
The Saltire is described as the last commercially active under-14-metre trawler operating and landing its catch solely from Wick Harbour. Mr Thain says that if the vessel is sold, it could bring an end to more than 200 years of unbroken mobile-gear fishing tradition in the town.
That makes this about much more than one fisherman and one boat.
Mr Thain says his monthly fuel bill has risen from around £3,000 to as much as £6,000, with red diesel increasing dramatically. He is now operating the boat without a crewman because the economics no longer allow him to employ one.
He also believes that changes to fishing regulations have made it extremely difficult to make a living from squid, one of the fisheries that could otherwise provide a more fuel-efficient option for his vessel.
There is another side to the story, and it is important to acknowledge it.
The Scottish Government says the 120mm mesh requirement is part of the National North Sea Cod Avoidance Plan, introduced to protect cod stocks, and that the measure was developed with industry representatives. There is also currently a limited squid-fishing trial in Shetland, while a possible trial in Moray is being developed.
Mr Thain is asking for the Saltire to be included.
If that happened, he says, he would take the boat off the market.
That makes this a potentially important test of whether regulation can be sufficiently flexible to recognise the circumstances of small fishing businesses without compromising conservation objectives.
But there is an even bigger issue.
What happens to Wick when the last boat disappears?
The economic value of one trawler may be relatively modest when measured against the millions of pounds involved in major energy projects.
Its cultural and community value is something else.
The harbour is part of Wick's identity. Fishing has shaped the town for generations. The people involved in the industry support other businesses, buy fuel, maintain boats, use engineering services and contribute to the life of the harbour.
Once those activities disappear, bringing them back is extremely difficult.
And this is not unique to fishing.
Caithness has seen traditional industries gradually shrink before.
The new economy has to deliver more than headlines
That brings us to one of the central questions facing Caithness.
The area has enormous potential in energy.
Dounreay remains one of the most important nuclear sites in Scotland. Offshore wind developments are planned around the Pentland Firth. Electricity infrastructure is expanding. There are opportunities in construction, engineering, maintenance and specialist services.
But potential is not the same thing as prosperity.
A major energy project can be worth hundreds of millions of pounds while creating relatively few permanent jobs once construction is complete.
That does not make such projects unimportant.
It means Caithness needs to ask a more demanding question.
How much of the economic benefit will actually remain here?
Can local businesses win contracts?
Can young people obtain skilled jobs without having to leave?
Can local firms expand?
Can suppliers establish themselves in the area?
Can the new investment support other businesses which are not directly involved in the energy sector?
Those questions become particularly important when a traditional industry such as fishing is contracting.
It is not enough to say that Caithness has a new economy coming.
The new economy has to be capable of replacing at least some of what the old economy provided.
And then there is politics
This week's other major local political development is the Wick and East Caithness by-election.
Five candidates will contest the seat on 1 October: Independent Dave Buchanan, Liberal Democrat Julie Calder, SNP candidate John Glen, Conservative Charlotte Gibson and Reform UK's Iain Richmond.
The election will fill the vacancy in Ward 3, which has four councillors.
The result will be interesting because it comes at a particularly difficult time for Highland Council.
The council is attempting to maintain services while also pursuing a huge long-term investment programme.
For the people of Wick and East Caithness, the election therefore provides an opportunity to consider what they actually want from their local representative.
Not simply which party they support.
Who will argue for the town?
Who understands the importance of the harbour?
Who will press for investment rather than simply accepting decisions made elsewhere?
Who will challenge Highland Council when necessary?
And who understands that Caithness's problems can be very different from those of Inverness and the central Highlands?
The geography matters
One of the frustrations regularly expressed in Caithness is that major decisions are made elsewhere.
Highland Council is headquartered in Inverness.
The Scottish Government is in Edinburgh.
Westminster is further away again.
There is nothing inherently wrong with decisions being made at those levels.
But policies designed at the centre can sometimes have very different consequences at the geographical edges.
The cost of providing services is different.
Transport is different.
Housing is different.
Employment opportunities are different.
And the consequences of losing a single business or service can be much greater in a small community than they would be in a large city.
That is why local representation matters.
It is also why the Wick by-election deserves more attention than perhaps a normal council by-election would receive.
There is a wider lesson in the Saltire
The Saltire story should perhaps make everyone involved in economic development stop and think.
It is very easy to celebrate the arrival of a large investment project.
It is much harder to measure what happens when a small business disappears.
Yet both are part of the same economic picture.
If a fishing boat disappears, the immediate financial loss may look small.
If dozens of small businesses gradually disappear over a decade, however, the cumulative effect can be enormous.
The same applies to shops, garages, farms, contractors, tradespeople and community organisations.
A rural economy is built from thousands of relatively small pieces.
Lose enough of them and eventually the whole structure becomes weaker.
Caithness is changing
That is perhaps the real story emerging from this week's news.
The old Caithness economy is still visible.
Fishing remains part of Wick's identity, but is under enormous pressure.
Agriculture continues to play an important role.
Tourism remains significant.
Small businesses provide much of the area's employment and economic activity.
At the same time, the new economy is appearing.
Nuclear decommissioning will continue for decades.
Renewable energy could bring substantial investment.
The Pentland Firth has enormous energy potential.
Electricity infrastructure is becoming increasingly important.
But the transition from one economy to another is never automatic.
There can be a dangerous period in which the old industries decline faster than the new industries develop.
That is the period Caithness needs to avoid.
The question for the next generation
Perhaps the most important question isn't whether Caithness can attract billions of pounds of investment.
It probably can.
The question is whether that investment will produce a stronger local economy.
Will young people have reasons to stay?
Will businesses have reasons to expand?
Will skilled workers move here rather than away?
Will Wick Harbour still have a working fishing industry?
Will Caithness communities have the infrastructure necessary to support new industries?
And will the economic benefits reach ordinary households rather than simply passing through the area?
The fate of the Saltire may look insignificant compared with the huge figures attached to energy projects.
In some ways, it is the opposite.
The Saltire represents the kind of locally owned economic activity which has supported Wick for generations.
The challenge now is to make sure that when the old economy disappears, if it does, it is replaced by something which is equally rooted in the community.
This week's news leaves a rather uncomfortable question
Caithness has no shortage of potential.
It has energy resources, nuclear expertise, a strategic location, a coastline, ports, tourism and people with a long history of adapting to difficult circumstances.
But potential doesn't pay wages.
Projects don't automatically create communities.
And announcements don't automatically create prosperity.
The Saltire is still for sale. There is still a possibility that the fishing story may not end with its departure from Wick. Mr Thain is trying to get the vessel included in the squid trial, and that could give the boat another chance.
But whether the Saltire survives or not, the underlying question remains.
What sort of economy does Caithness want to have in another 20 years?
That may be a much more important question than any single announcement made this week.
Because Caithness doesn't simply need investment.
It needs investment that leaves something behind.