SOUTH WEST UK FISHERMEN
BREATH A CONDITIONAL SIGH OF RELIEF.
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| Bad news on the haddock - with an over abundance and a swingeing 15% quota cut there will be plenty of haddock dumped, dead back at sea in 2013! |
Members of the SWFPO and other fishermen in the South West UK,
can breath a conditional sigh of relief and enjoy their Christmas break after
fisheries minister Richard Benyon secured quite a good deal for them in Brussels .
Chairman of the SWFPO Bill Brock said “I extend thanks from
all our members to Richard Benyon and all of his team of negotiators for
pulling off significant improvements to a number of crucial quotas compared to
the proposals for 2013.
We were expecting deeper cuts but we can now look forward to
landing a significant amount more of Plaice and Sole through the coming year,
overall this Fisheries Council delivered improvements to next years landings by
our members amounting to £750,000 approx at today’s prices.”
Chief Executive Jim Portus said “although our members will
struggle to deal with the 5% cut in monk fish quotas it could have been worse
and we are already planning transfer deals involving Belgium
and Holland .
It is a shame that fishermen will have to discard much of
their Haddock catches following the cut of 15%.
This is a species of fish that cannot be avoided due to super abundance
on the fishing grounds. Members of the SWFPO
will continue to work with the Fisheries Department to bring about improvements
to the Dover Sole Management Plan to allow fishermen to land all that they
catch. Already the South West and Channel
Beam Trawler fleet have been recognised for the good work that skippers and
fishing gear designers have done to reduce discards and improve fish quality.
The improved opportunities announced today cement the
relationship between this innovative work our vessels have been carrying out
the ability of our Minister to secure real improvements of fishing
opportunities.
Quota changes for 2013
Plaice 7DE + 26% (English Channel )
Cod 7ek +2% (Western Channel
and Bristol Channel )
Sole 7FG +4%
Whiting +30%
Plaice 7fg No change
Western Hake no change
Western Megrim no change
Channel Sprats no change
Monkfish -5% reduction
Haddock -15% reduction