Government promises help for struggling fishermen

As the Government minister responsible for fishing visited the county and made promises to help hard working fishermen survive the latest raft of rule changes, those who work at sea said life was tougher than ever.

Fisheries Minister George Eustice yesterday told fishermen in Selsey that a new £43m European Maritime and Fisheries Fund will be made available to help them cope with the demersal discard ban which comes into effect in January.

The ban will mean the wasteful practice of throwing haddock, sole and plaice back overboard due to quotas will be stopped.

Mr Eustice said: “If we want a profitable fishing industry and thriving coastal communities in the future it is vital that we fish sustainably today. That is why the reforms we have secured to the Common Fisheries Policy, which will put an end to the shameful practice of throwing perfectly good fish overboard, are so important.

“It is essential that we ban the practice of discarding fish, but we are also committed to introducing new flexibilities to help fishermen manage their quotas and will be giving more quota to the under 10 metre fleet.”

Changes announced yesterday mean that fishermen will have increased quotas agreed by the European Commission and will be able to bank, borrow and swap quotas to give them more flexibility over their businesses.

Joey Percy from the New Under Tens Fishermen's Association - which is based in Hastings and represents smaller fishing fleets across the county - said they hoped the changes would be the "start of a renaissance."

"The vast majority of fleets off Sussex are small scale. These are hard working people and fishing is still the most dangerous occupation there is.

"If you think how much people generally, and celebrity chefs, were horrified by how much perfectly good fish was thrown back into the sea, imagine how much harder it is for the fishermen risking their lives stood on the deck of a boat at 3am.

"The under ten metre fleets are facing significant problems."

"Generally the minister's announcements sound like good news, but as with anything, the devil is in the detail so we don't quite know how it will work."

Mr Percy said that Marine Management Organisation guidelines gave conflicting advice to fishermen.

For example, current advice states Sussex trawlers will not be allowed to discard whiting - unless whiting is undersized - or they have met the catch threshold - however the catch thresholds will not be announced until November.

Alan Robertson has been fishing and selling fish from Worthing beach for decades.

His sons now go out to sea but the rules mean they struggle to catch enough fish to bring home the bacon for their families, meanwhile tons of perfectly good cod is thrown back into the water.

Known as Al the Fish, Mr Robertson said: "It will still mean a lot of fish are thrown away.

"The quotas will be full within one or two days which means we will be throwing tons of cod back.

"I don't think the discard ban will help.

"The quotas are all wrong.

"There should be some better use for perfectly good fish other than chucking it back in the sea dead.

"It's not good for the environment either."

Alan's team have had to adapt to fishing different species using different skills and equipment and travelling further and further out to sea.

The crews set out at 4am and sometimes do not return until 6 or 7 at night.

He added: "They are burning £60 or £70 of fuel but only coming back with £250 of fish.

"For three people supporting three families it's not much.

"The job is harder than ever."

The Government expects to implement a total ban on throwing back fish by 2019.

Trawler fishermen at work.  Picture: Sarah Stirk / Indie Farmer

CATCH QUOTAS LEAVING ‘HEARTBROKEN’ CREWS TO DUMP FISH IN WATER

By Sarah Stirk

IN THE darkness of 3.30am on Stade beach in Hastings, Paul Joy and his crew prepare to set out to sea cuttle-fishing. Engines grumble, wood creaks and the boat skids over shingle into the black water, the lights of the coast quickly fading into the distance.

The fishermen repeatedly haul in cuttlefish traps from the depths, empty catches into boxes, and separate males and females before replacing the traps under the surface of the sea. Sometimes working for seven hours at a stretch, their faces, hands and oilskins are splattered with black squid ink. Even at daybreak in summer, the damp air of the English Channel is cold and biting and the work is physically tough.

For Paul and hundreds of other small fishing communities around the UK, it’s a way of life going back nearly a thousand years. But they say that they’re now struggling to survive, and if things continue as they are, they won’t last much longer.

“My sons aren’t coming into fishing, how can they? They want a life and they’ve got a mortgage,” says Paul.

“How can you get them to become fishermen when you don’t have the right to keep the fish that you catch? And the rights have been given to someone else when we’ve been fishing here for 1,000 years.”

Strict fishing quotas were introduced in 2006, but fishermen say the allocations are imbalanced, in favour of larger operators, leaving smaller “inshore” fishing boats under 10 metres long with access to around only four to six per cent of the total fishing quota.

These small fishing vessels account for 77 per cent of the UK’s fishing fleet, and provide 65 per cent of full-time employment in the industry. Coastal communities rely on fishing, and the jobs and tourism it brings, to survive.

The Stade beach in Hastings has been home to fishermen for centuries and currently holds 29 of the 339 small fishing boats in the south east which are permitted to access around 30 per cent of the regional quota. The remaining 70 per cent is controlled by nine larger vessels.

“We’re in a situation where we can’t make a living. Smaller boats are losing their right to fish, being pushed out and decimated by larger vessels. We’ve got a long heritage of sustainable fishing. Quota is the lifeblood of the community – if you take our quota away, we die,” says Paul.

If the given quota is exceeded at sea, under current rules fishermen cannot legally bring the fish ashore or sell them in the market, but are forced to throw the catch overboard as “discard” so they are not penalised with fines.

“We’ve got quota on cod which is 42 kilos a month, which equates to half a fish a day, and that’s for four people,” adds Paul.

“It’s impossible to make a living on that and we’re having to throw fish back in the sea dead.

“Week after week, dumping fish back in the sea. We’re dumping plaice back, we’re dumping skate and sole back because we haven’t got the quota for them.

“The swim bladder ruptures and 99 per cent of the fish die. It’s heartbreaking.”

Paul is co-chairman of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (NUTFA). Founded in 2008, it was set up to give a voice to small fishing operations. He also runs the Hastings fishermen protection society, which is campaigning for change at a European level.

“It’s about big industries and power. Small boats have no representation.

“It’s about money, it’s about business, it’s about the right to fish, who holds that right and who benefits financially from that right.

“It used to be about coastal communities but it isn’t any more. There are many bankruptcies in the small 10 industry because of lack of quota. It’s fundamentally wrong.

“It needs to be sustainable, and we should be the last to go not the first to go. £114 would be maximum we could earn if we caught all of the quota for the week.

“How can you survive? People are going under.”

HOW INDUSTRY CHANGED, GREW AND SURVIVED DECLINE DURING WARS

SAXON fishermen lived beneath the Brighton cliffs from the 5th century AD. 

By the middle ages Brighton was a small town. From 1313 there was a daily fish market on the beach at Brighton and fishermen’s huts along the shore. 

The area between Middle Street and East Street was called the Hempshares and fishermen grew hemp there for ropes and nets. (the Lanes were once pathways between allotments).

By 1580 there were 400 fishermen living in Brighton with 80 fishing vessels. 

In the late 17th century the fishing industry in Brighton declined. This was due to England fighting a series of wars with France and Holland when the enemy navies prevented fishing vessels from going out.

Hastings is still home to the largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe.

Around the time of the Norman Conquest Hastings was a thriving fishing and trading centre. 

In 1854 a church dedicated to St Nicholas was built on Hastings beach – the building now houses the town’s fishing museum. 

In 1919 the Edward and Mary was the first locally-built fishing boat installed with an engine. 
An anchor dating from Napoleonic times still lies on Hastings beach.