A bigger slice of the quota cake?

The Westcountry's struggling inshore fishing fleet could be handed a bigger slice of the quota "cake" under plans to create community co-operatives in England. Under the pilot scheme announced yesterday, small boat owners, with vessels under ten metres in length, will be able to form groups and access the quotas of larger fish producers. ​ 

The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) says the scheme, which will be overseen in the South West by one of three new EU-funded liaison officers, will keep the inshore fishing fleet afloat. But neither the national voice for small fishermen nor the region's main fish producer organisation have shown any enthusiasm for the project, describing it as "destabilising" and "tinkering". The National Under Ten Fishermen's Association (NUTFA), based in Ivybridge, represents small operators which it claims make up 75 per cent of the active national fleet but receive just 4 per cent of the available quotas. It says Defra is talking about "top-slicing" the producer groups' quotas by about 3 per cent and transferring up to 80 per cent of unused quotas to the new co-operatives. Chairman Dave Cuthbert argues that "tinkering" will not give smaller groups the "critical mass of fish" to become "a credible voice" and called for a national under-ten-metre inshore producer association. "We have toured around the country and there is not a vast amount of support for this – there is a need for a critical mass of fish not quotas scattered around the country," he added. 


The pilots are part of the Government's response to a consultation on reforming the management of the inshore fleet, which was virtually unregulated up until 2006. Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said the inshore fishing industry was being "stifled" by an outdated system and had to be fixed. "To survive, fishermen must become more profitable and we think the answer is giving them greater control over how they fish and market their catches," he said. "They've asked us to test options, and that's what these pilot projects are all about." Jim Portus, chief executive of the South West Fish Producers' Organisation – one of the groups set to lose quota – said the scheme was "robbing Peter to pay Paul". He said it was "patently unfair" that quotas in England be put into a pot accessible by smaller boats from places such as Scotland and Wales, adding: "This whole announcement is destabilising and doesn't solve anything but just puts more confusion into the mix." 


 A Defra spokesperson said: “This scheme to support our fishing fleet is only being run for English fishermen and there are no plans to take quota from English fishermen and give it to other nations.” St Ives MP Andrew George, whose constituency includes Newlyn, home to the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, said the scheme would be "good for the industry, good for some of the lowest-impact fishing methods, good for the economy of our coves and the sustainability of our fishing stocks."


Story courtesy of ThisisCornwall.

White Heather loaded.

The ring netter White Heather making her way in to Newlyn fully loaded with over twenty tonnes of Cornish Sardines after a night at sea.

Ajax at sea.

Current approximate position of the Newlyn netter Ajax AH32 fishing for hake - due to land in Newlyn on Thursday morning.

Celtic Sea

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The great New Zealand fishing scandal - food for thought.

An impassioned expose on an issue close to New Zealanders hearts…
We have all heard of New Zealand companies closing down here and moving offshore, depriving people of jobs and creating more profit for companies but how would you feel if instead of moving offshore, they fired their Kiwi workers and replaced them with foreign workers, paying them much less and with no regard to health and safety. As a country we would be outraged wouldn’t we?
This scenario is happening today in the fishing industry, and has been for the past 20 years.
Every year, foreign factory trawlers with foreign crews, Korean, Russian or Polish, operate in New Zealand waters, chartered by New Zealand companies to catch their Deep-sea Quota, depriving New Zealand crews and processing workers of much needed jobs, and our economy of revenue.
THE GREAT NEW ZEALAND FISHING SCANDAL is a comprehensive examination and expose of an issue all New Zealanders should be aware of, and outraged by.

New Zealand has the 4th largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world (within a 200 mile boundary line around our country) measuring 4.4 million square kilometers, controlled by our government. Within that zone, 130 fish species are commercially caught every year, with a quota value of $38 billion and an export value of $1.5 billion and yet New Zealanders are not reaping due rewards.

For more background information read the full story here:

Out with the old.

Waiting to be fitted and replace the existing rubbing fenders that line the quays at Newlyn........

 profile view of the fenders after removal from the quay.......

 revels the extent to which the waterlogged timbers are being eaten away.......

by the resident army of wood chomping worms.

News from Ajax AH32, 100 miles off the Scillies.

One of the boats fishing in the proximity of the Ajax is the french trawler, Les Calanques - seen here on the VesselTracker AIS which is picking up boats nearly 100 miles off - must be due to the weather conditions as AIS has a similar working range to VHF - line of sight and about 30-40 miles at the most.

Early morning glow.

 Down on the beach the dying embers of all that remains of the crabber Dom Bosco frame the Govenek of Ladram as she returns to sea.......

on the market, five tonnes of hake grace the market floor from the netter Ajax....... 

 along with a good run of fish from a mixed landing of trawl, beam trawl and net fish........

 a close up shot reveals why this fish has the name yellow fin........

 being discussed by auctioneer Ian and James shortly before the sale started, the fish made £4.60, well under the expected £20-25 per kilo.........

 both ends of the market were full with fish........

as was the White Heather when she came in to land with over twenty tonnes of Cornish Sardines on board........

 there should be extra interest from the local community and other harbour uses at this week's harbour meeting - with the expected announcement of new faces to replace the three members recently removed.........

too much water in some quarters as the boating pool is full to the brim.