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Andrew George MP |
Fishermen from West Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly who met Government Minister, Richard Benyon MP, at Defra headquarters today said that they were pleased with the outcome.
Their local MP, Andrew George, led the delegation to take up concerns on behalf of fishermen from around the coast of West Cornwall who primarily ply their trade within the six mile zone.
The fishermen in the delegation were David Muirhead (Chair of Cadgwith & Helford Fishermen's Association & Chair of the Cornish Handliner's Association), Chris Bean, Anthony Hosking (both of whom fish from Helford) and Robert Francis (Chair of Isles of Scilly Fishermen's Association). They tackled the Minister on concerns about changes to the inshore fish quota allocation system, the high mortality of cod which is in greater abundance around the Cornish coast than in living memory, the heavy regulations which they have to endure and the damaging impact of foreign vessels which they feel abuse their historic rights when bringing powerful trawlers right up to the six mile limit.
The Minister said that he would look carefully at their proposals for a community managed quota pool for inshore fishermen, the possible redesign of fishing log books and that he would be taking up their concerns about extending national control out to the twelve mile limit when discussing the future of the Common Fisheries Policy with fellow European fisheries ministers.
The meeting will be followed up with further discussions with government officials to advance the possibility of a pilot fish quota management system and other matters.
In addition, the drawing up of Marine Conservation Zones is something which Mr Benyon said would be undertaken with care and consideration for the future commercial viability of the Cornish and Scillonian inshore fishing fleet.
Mr George said: ‘We were pleased with the meeting. There is now a lot of work to be done to build on the proposals for a better system of quota allocation and management and to put pressure on future negotiations for the Common Fisheries Policy and designation of Marine Conservation Zones.’
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