Post by SHARK on Apr 22, 2009 18:55:32 GMT 1
A complete reform of European fisheries management policy may not come quickly enough to save some fishermen in Lancashire, they have warned.
EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg has launched a consultation on the future of fisheries policy in an attempt to halt dangerously depleted stocks.
But inshore fishermen in Fleetwood say strict quotas make it impossible to make a living from their trade.
One man, Keith McGuire, said he could be out of business within two months.
The European Commission has blamed fishing fleets for overfishing and governments for failing to enforce catch quota limits.
In a green paper published on Wednesday, it admitted that years of conservation measures - including quotas - had failed to halt depleting stocks.
At the end of the day we are now being denied the chance to earn a viable living
Keith McGuire
It said its consultation on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) would seek the views of fishermen as well as scientists.
Another Fleetwood fisherman, Mike Porter, said business was currently "impossible" and quotas "unworkable".
"I actually caught my April quota in less than 30 hours actual fishing time. We just don't know how we are going to make ends meet," he told the BBC.
Mr McGuire has been fishing Fleetwood's inshore waters for 20 years, where the traditional main catch is plaice.
But in April he caught his 500kg quota in about eight days, which he said did not bring in enough money to cover the loan repayments on his boat.
Savings survival
"The fish are still there to be caught, it's just the fact we are not being given a viable allocation of plaice, which is our main target species.
"Because it has a relatively low value then we obviously need more of it to make a wage.
"At the minute I'm actually surviving off what small savings I have left and I have a family to support... I would anticipate I've probably got maybe two months left before I run out of savings."
Up to 70 vessels fishing out of Fleetwood when Mr McGuire started in 1989, but he says there are now fewer than 10.
"We have our good days we have our bad days. We have good times, hard times. It's always been the same.
"But at the end of the day we are now being denied the chance to earn a viable living."
EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg has launched a consultation on the future of fisheries policy in an attempt to halt dangerously depleted stocks.
But inshore fishermen in Fleetwood say strict quotas make it impossible to make a living from their trade.
One man, Keith McGuire, said he could be out of business within two months.
The European Commission has blamed fishing fleets for overfishing and governments for failing to enforce catch quota limits.
In a green paper published on Wednesday, it admitted that years of conservation measures - including quotas - had failed to halt depleting stocks.
At the end of the day we are now being denied the chance to earn a viable living
Keith McGuire
It said its consultation on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) would seek the views of fishermen as well as scientists.
Another Fleetwood fisherman, Mike Porter, said business was currently "impossible" and quotas "unworkable".
"I actually caught my April quota in less than 30 hours actual fishing time. We just don't know how we are going to make ends meet," he told the BBC.
Mr McGuire has been fishing Fleetwood's inshore waters for 20 years, where the traditional main catch is plaice.
But in April he caught his 500kg quota in about eight days, which he said did not bring in enough money to cover the loan repayments on his boat.
Savings survival
"The fish are still there to be caught, it's just the fact we are not being given a viable allocation of plaice, which is our main target species.
"Because it has a relatively low value then we obviously need more of it to make a wage.
"At the minute I'm actually surviving off what small savings I have left and I have a family to support... I would anticipate I've probably got maybe two months left before I run out of savings."
Up to 70 vessels fishing out of Fleetwood when Mr McGuire started in 1989, but he says there are now fewer than 10.
"We have our good days we have our bad days. We have good times, hard times. It's always been the same.
"But at the end of the day we are now being denied the chance to earn a viable living."