The fishing industry in Hastings could collapse in the near future if unfair quota system is not scrapped. Big business houses urged the government to sketch plan to allow South coast fishermen to catch 70 percent of the area’s cod. Life-long fisherman Paul Joy, chairman of Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society, opined that the unfair quota system set by the European Union (EU) was killing off fishermen’s livelihoods.
He asked why should the smaller fishing boats be put out of business to generate the incomes of the large producer organisations? He informed that government fears taking the quotas from the large businesses as the latter would take it to court. He also said that there are 400 small boats in the association nationally and it is very difficult to get the money together to launch a judicial review.
The EU dictates how much of each species member states can catch. It is up to each national government to decide how to distribute its quota among its fleet. In Hastings 93 percent of the fishing boats are under 10-metres and they employ 83 per cent of the town’s fishing workforce, yet they are only allowed to catch about 30 per cent of the area’s cod quota.
Hastings MP Michael Foster blasted the current quota system as ‘absolutely appalling and unfair’. He added that fisheries minister Huw Irranca Davies recently put forward a plan to allow smaller vessels in the South coast to be able to catch 70 percent of the area’s cod. He opined that the government’s plan would have greatly assisted our local fishermen but he was ganged up by the big boys who said they would not have it.
