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GRIMSBY Fish Market received a surprise visitor this morning - David Cameron.
The Conservative Party leader, flanked by a media army, dropped in on the fish docks as part of his gruelling 36 hour long tour of the country. He had travelled down on his campaign bus from Glasgow and Carlisle where he met senior members of the Grimsby Fishing Industry including fish market chief executive Martyn Boyers and FMA chief executive Steve Norton. He was also photographed holding up a 52 kilo halibut, worth around £400.
Mr Cameron toured the fish market, talking to buyers and merchants about the various species of fish on display (totalling around 1,700 boxes) and about current supply problems, especially those relating to Iceland. He also went on board the Jubilee Spirit, one of Grimsby's few remaining trawlers and spoke to Dave Johnson, a director of the Jubilee Fishing Company, about problems facing the catching sector.
Afterwards Mr Cameron said the Conservative party full supported reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and wanted to see an end to discards - the practice of throwing good fish back into the sea simply because quotas have been exhausted.
He said: "I came to Grimsby because I wanted to see real people who have to work early in the morning and to get first hand knowledge of the fishing industry. It has been a most rewarding visit."
Grimsby Fish salesman Kurt Christiansen and representing the Grimsby Seiner's Association, also spoke to the Tory leader. He said his members wanted to see less regulation especially that involving the installation of cameras on fishing vessels. He said there were enough checks on fishermen already and he had recently spoken to one skipper who was quitting the industry because of the way he was being "spied" on.
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