The current quota scheme has many restrictions for the fishermen, how much fish, especially cod, they can land. This quota policy has led to fishermen having to throw cod back into the sea even if they are dead, to ensure they do not break any rules. European ministers in Brussels have agreed to effectively end the current rules on fishing quotas and have published a Green Paper aimed at deciding on a new Common Fisheries Policy by 2012.
Tim Dapling, chief fishery officer for Sussex Sea Fisheries District Committee, which regulates fishing to a limit of six miles off the coast, told that rethinking fishing quota is a must and most welcome step. He added that the EU has recognised the flaws of the Common Fisheries Policy and is looking to undertake major reform of the policy. The Sussex committee welcomes some of the Green Paper’s comments on decentralisation and also the need to consider coastal fisheries in a different perspective from some offshore fisheries.
Dapling opined that the fishermen want to see strong local fisheries committees with a viable industry that is fishing on stocks that are well managed. Fisherman Paul Joy, chairman of Hastings Fishermen Protection Society, said the decision was a move in the right direction. He said that the Government had to scrap the uneven split in the quota between larger vessels and boats shorter than ten metres.
Greg Brownrigg, from Newhaven, has been fishing for almost 40 years and works out of Shoreham with his son Warren. He opined that it will definitely be a good thing if decisions can come back to the fishermen.
