THE UK Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies is due in Grimsby tomorrow to meet local fishing leaders on a number of key issues..
He is expected to be brought up to date on the latest modernisation plans as well as listen to current concerns facing the industry.
The visit is part of a tour of key fishing centres, but he will almost certainly he will be taken to the site of the proposed new Grimsby seafood processing village which last month received news that the project is to get a £1-million grant from the European Fisheries Fund.
Peter Dalton and Gary Cadey, joint managing directors of Grimsby Seafood Village Ltd, said they were delighted that the Minister had agreed to take a first hand look at where the project will be built. The seafood village is expected to create many new fish processing jobs as well as protect existing firms and employment.
Mr Irranca-Davies, who was last in Grimsby in November 2008, will also meet representatives of the Grimsby FMA and the Grimsby Fish Market, which itself is about to undergo extensive modernisation including the installation of new temperature controlled facilities.
One of the issues worrying fishing leaders on the Humber is the continuing rift between the UK and Iceland over the Icesave banking collapse.
Although the crisis has no direct link with seafood the fear is that latent anger over Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision to invoke anti-terrorist legislation against Iceland 18 months ago cold eventually impact on normally friendly fishing relations between the Icelandic fishing industry and the Humber - and, by implication, on fish supplies. The Minister is likely to be told that a speedy solution to the dispute would be welcome.
Vessel owners are expected to raise issues over marine protection zones, conservation and last year's sudden shutdown of the English whitefish fleet which angered many skippers.
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
