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Richard Benyon |
KENT Coast fishermen are facing a major crisis because they have virtually run out of catch quota and will not be able to put to sea until next year.
They generally operates smaller vessels up to 10 metres long, but although this sector makes up almost 90 per cent of the UK fishing fleet they only a fraction of the total quota - around three per cent in fact.
Now the local Canterbury MP Julian Brazier met the Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon to ask for an increase in the quota. Many of the boats are based in Whitstable - the port famous for its oysters - and the skipper owners have said that they cannot stay in business on the meagre allocation they receive.
Mr Brazier said at the weekend: "We had a good meeting with the Minister. He listened to us carefully and we are all agreed that the longer solution is the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, if possible moving away from quotas to effort.
He added: That, however, is for the medium term.The immediate crisis, however, is that our fishermen in Whitstable, Ramsgate and elsewhere have no quota at all for the next few months - nothing they can actually fish. A fishing boat costs £200 a month to keep in port and no small business can survive that."
Mr Brazier said that Whitstable is at the heart of fishing in Kent. "Around the port we have got the fish market, fish mongers and fish restaurants - in fact the whole tourist appeal of the area.
The fishermen are now waiting to hear what solution the minister will come up with.In previous years when smaller fishermen have come to the end of one particular quota the government has traded another quota to increase their allowance.Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: "We are doing all we can to make sure that we can [continue] swapping quotas to keep them going, in the short term."In the long term really what we need is a complete reforming of the common fisheries policy."
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