Always big business in Eyemouth, fishing has had a somewhat difficult few years with new legislation forcing a number of changes.
A review of the management of one of Scotland's national assets - its fish quota - was the focus of the consultation meeting. And not everyone was pleased with what is being recommended.
The new proposals, published for consultation in May, intend to put fishermen at the heart of fish quota management, provide greater certainty to fishermen in Scotland through access quota, help strengthen coastal communities for generations to come and encourage new blood into the industry.
Speaking ahead of the public meeting, Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said:
"Fishing provides the lifeblood of many of Scotland's communities and sustains tens of thousands of jobs. It is vital that we consider how we can best safeguard our fishing communities' birthright for future generations. My hope is that our review will help achieve that.
"The arrangements governing fishing rights are crucial as they provide access to our rich fishing grounds. There therefore must be benefits for the current generation of fishermen but we need to ensure that these benefits are available to future generations as well.
"Every time I visit a fishing community in Scotland I am asked to take steps to protect fishing rights for future generations. Our proposals aim to do just that."
"These proposals provide arrangements tailored to Scottish circumstances, and have been carefully designed to safeguard Scotland's fishing rights while allowing close working with the rest of the UK to continue. "
Key recommendations in the consultation include: safeguarding Scotland's traditional fishing rights for now and the future by encouraging them to be kept in Scotland ; making sure Scottish fishermen get their fair share of quota providing stability and security so that businesses can plan for the future; making sure fishing quotas are only held by businesses who fish them; encouraging new blood into the industry by seeking to develop jointly with the industry a new entrants scheme and reforming licensing to make it simpler and user-friendly so reducing business costs
However, David Shiell, chairman of the Anglo Scottish Fishermen's Association said that the proposals set out of in the consultation haven't met with such as warm response.
"Nothing suits the area at all, we're in a difficult position in the Borders. If recommendations laid out in this consultation go ahead it could be a very dangerous move. At the moment you can sell your quota to anyone else anywhere in the UK but now there's talk of having separate licences for different countries. This is madness as at the moment quotas are negotiated by the UK government- not separately in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
"The proposal would mean that if someone in Scotland wanted to sell their licence- the person they sold it to would have to do 35 per cent of their fishing in Scotland, originally they were talking about it being 50. That's no good if people are wanting to trade across the Border.
"There's a saying that 'if it's not broke don't fix it' and that definitely applies to this.
"It's going to be more a hindrance as people have been trading quotas and licences for years and there's never been any problems as far as we're concerned.
"We, as an association, aren't in support of what is being said and also are against the plans to do away with the slipper skipper as they have been keeping the fleets at sea."
Representatives from the Anglo Scottish Fishing Association were due in Edinburgh this week to meet with the Scottish Fishermen's Federation to discuss the matter further.