Drop plans to cap under 10 metre fishing licences and commit to longer term management plans that provide a fairer distribution of UK Total Allowable Catch.
Why is this important?
DEFRA is consulting the fishing industry to identify ways and means of providing more fishing opportunity for vessels classed as Under 10 metres.
They plan to identify vessels that have not fished during a set period (a reference period) and limit the future landing potential of these vessels so severely as to render the licences worthless and unable to support a living wage. A similar scheme was run several years ago with little or no impact on the under 10 metre fleet's ability to catch it's allocated quota but considerable impact on the ability within small coastal communities to improve, expand or diversify within inshore fisheries.
Capped licences reduce future flexibility and diversity in inshore fisheries of England and Wales and prove punitive in the longer term. These capped licences provide a short term gain by creating the illusion of more quota but are likely to create a much longer term problem and potentially limit the future development of sustainable inshore fisheries as fish stocks improve.
Also, the manner in which licences are capped and the selection process rarely takes account of personal circumstances tending to be a one size fits all approach that fails to recognise an individual's investment towards future goals.
DEFRA needs to take heed of the majority of fishermen in this inshore sector and ditch the capping scheme, to explore more equitable and longer term policies that support inshore fleets - not punishing them.
Show our support andd sign the petition here please:
Show our support andd sign the petition here please: