Greenpeace in association with NUTFA have launched their Coastal Champions Tour from Porthleven by launching the Rising Tide which will carry their message to every key port in England and an action plan to:
- Give local, sustainable boats a fair share of quota
- Give low-impact fishing boats priority access to coastal waters (up to 12 nautical miles off land)
- Give low-impact fishing representatives a permanent seat at the table where EU-wide decisions on fishing are made
- Put marine protection measures in place in a way that benefits low-impact fishermen and coastal communities
- Reward selective fishing in order to restore fish stocks
At every port Greenpeace are inviting local MPs to sign up their support - as a result the launch party at Porthleven was attended by representatives from three local parties that included the Green Party's Tim Andrews whose manifesto on fishing makes for good reading - as does their plans for for Parliamentary reformation , Labour's St Ives candidate Cornelius Oliver and sitting Lib-Dem MP Andrew George - no sign of a representative from the Conservative party under whom Ted Heath signed away UK sovereign waters when we joined the then Common Market - and as a result were forced to sign up to the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) which has served many of our inshore fishermen so badly.