All but 4% of the UK's quotas are held by producer organisations - collectives of fishermen of which most of the larger class of vessel and some of the smaller boats are members. And this, it is claimed, is why some under-10m fishermen in the South east face problems of quota shortage at some times of the year. It's a clear, simple, narrative that has heroes and villains. David and Goliath. And it’s essentially untrue.
The notion that the problems in ports like Hastings lies with the commoditisation of fishing rights in the form of tradable quotas and that this has led to the dispossession of small-scale fishermen by powerful economic interests who are largely anonymous, makes arresting copy but is just not the case. The Guardian is the latest visitor to Hastings (scenic and a convenient day trip from London) and to come away with a garbled tale of dispossession and malevolent forces within the industry and Government.
But no one in Hastings apparently told the Guardian journalist John Harris that the fundamental quota problem in Hastings lies with cod, nor the fact that the essential issue lies with the UK's share of the Eastern Channel cod quota, which is less than 10% - the balance going mainly to France. Nor has he been told that everybody in the Channel, big boat or small boat, has a problem of not enough cod quota for exactly the same reason. This is not a problem that can be changed by tinkering with the UK’s domestic management system. And where he got the idea that the under-10m fleet in Hastings is deprived of monkfish and hake quota, which they don't even catch, goodness knows.
Setting aside the problem of Eastern Channel cod, most under-10 metre vessels don't catch anything close to their monthly quota limits most of the time. Yes, that's correct. Most of the small scale fleets don't catch their quota allocations. Partly that's because they are targeting stocks like crab, lobster and bass for which no quotas are set. But that fact does put the 4% statistic into some kind of relevant context.
That is not to deny that some under-10s are severely constrained on some quotas for some of the time. And this is a particular problem in areas like the Thames estuary where the fleets have very limited access to non-quota species. No one believes more strongly than the NFFO that ports like Hastings should retain a strong vibrant inshore fleet. But that is not going to be achieved through misrepresentations of the causes of the problems in Hastings and the Thames ports.
There are solutions to the problems facing ports like Hastings but they will only come into place by addressing the real underlying issues that have been brought to the fore by Buyers and Sellers registration in 2007, (a move which the Guardian should note effectively ended large scale misreporting of catches in the UK).
One of the realities that have led to pressures on parts of the small scale fleets in the South east has been the expansion of the catching capacity of the under-10 metre fleet through the arrival of the super-under 10s. These vessels of 9.5 metres and abovecan out-fish many larger vessels and now catch around 70% of the under-10m pool quotas despite amounting to only 14% of the fleet. A solution that leaves the super-under-10s out of the equation will not be a solution at all. It is also a fact that fragmented and geographically dispersed, the small scale fleets lack of collective organisation and this has left the under-10s relatively disadvantaged in using their assets (unutilised quota) to secure quotas for the stocks that they do need, in the way that producer organisations do on a daily basis.
It is part of a journalist's job to simplify complex issues. But when simplification leads to serious distortion and misrepresentation journalists should be called to account. And those in the industry peddling those distortions or misconceptions should ask themselves what they are likely to achieve by it when the narrative falls to bits under the slightest scrutiny.
Fishy response on social network:
@PecheFraiche @throughthegaps 140 characters simply not enough to express my thoughts on quota mismanagement!