Fishers are competing with offshore wind farms and marine protected areas, says a report
Fishing communities in south-west England fear their way of life is being pushed aside as a new report warns growing pressure on the UK's seas could force boats out of the water for good.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said large parts of the coastline were being swallowed up by plans for offshore wind farms and marine protected areas, external.
It warned fishing risked being crowded out unless the government urgently set out clear rules for who got to use the sea.
The government said it had announced a fishing and coastal growth fund worth £30m a year for 12 years, and it was looking at a framework balancing competing demands between fishing, energy infrastructure, and conservation.
The report said the government had missed "important voices" such as Cornish fishing communities and England's largest fish market in Brixham while shaping its coastal growth fund.
It added people in the fishing industry felt successive governments had not "adequately recognised or supported their sector".
"In Brixham, fishers and local representatives told us they wanted more involvement in policy development," the report said.
Fisherman Dave Stevens on board the Crystal Sea
Chris Ranford, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, said the industry faced losing vast areas of water with no back-up plan in place.
He said: "We've done an analysis of this and there's a prediction of potentially losing up to 50% of the current fishing grounds and absolutely no plan in place to deal with that.
"The space to go and fish and produce food - and support all the jobs, 8,000 jobs - across the seafood supply chain in Cornwall are really under threat.
"So having something credible like a sea-use framework [to provide direction on suitable activities in certain areas], I wouldn't say it's a good thing, it's an essential thing."
Fisherman Dave Stevens, speaking on board his boat the Crystal Sea, said fishing voices were too often ignored.
He said: "It needs to be a better network for fishermen to feed into the system because really we're at a complete disadvantage.
"So many other sea users are actually statutory consultees. I mean leisure, the navy, shipping, all come before fishing."
He said decades of warning had gone unheard and the impact was personal, "so it's quite upsetting that you can have your livelihood just took away from you and you've got no say in that".
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had "engaged widely as well as visiting the South West" and it was "carefully considering the benefits of a sea-use framework", balancing competing demands like fishing, energy infrastructure, and conservation.
Full story courtesy of Lucie Fisher for the BBC
