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The plight of two Newlyn brothers has highlighted the stark choices fishermen
are making to survive. Sarah Cockcroft and Clare Morgan report on the
latest quota row
The crippling effect of fish quota cuts was driven home this week when
two brothers caught their month's allowance in just one day.
That catch, by Newlyn's main Dover sole fishermen, Stephen and Michael
Nowell, filled just two baskets and wouldn't even raise enough to cover
the costs of the fuel used on the trip.
On this occasion they leased quotas from other boats, at vast expense,
so they could land the extra fish and not have to throw them back into
the sea.
The Nowells must now spend tens of thousands of pounds and equip their
three beam trawlers for deep sea fishing. But the price they pay may be
much more than cash.
Stephen said: "Our boats are not designed to fish deep sea and we
could be compromising the safety of ourselves and our crew.
"It's the best sole fishing we have seen out there for 30 years.
There is so much fish around we can see we are catching more than we're
allowed and have to turn away.
"And the really sickening thing is that we have just left the Belgium
fleet on the north Cornwall coast, in Cornish waters with 70 per cent
of the quota fishing away."
Last year the brothers spent nine-months working with government employed
scientists collecting evidence to help fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw
increase the quotas.
The feedback from the scientists was so positive that on the strength
of it they borrowed £500,000 from the bank to buy another boat.
"Ben Bradshaw promised fishermen he would come back from Brussels
with increased quotas, instead he came back with cuts of nearly 50 per
cent," said Stephen.
"All we can do is try the new deep sea gear and hope the boats will
manage. If they can't all three boats will be up for sale, we will have
to lay off 13 men, all friends who have families and mortgages."
Jim Portus, chief executive of the South West Fish Producers' Organisation,
said: "Our quota has been slashed dramatically over the years yet
fishermen are saying Dover sole is not rare, and we are finding plenty.
"The Belgians have always been filling up while our fishermen have
got their quota and have to steam away from it in order to stay legal."
Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation,
said: "We supplied scientific, anecdotal and historical evidence
and asked if anything else was needed. The question is, is the UK fishing
minister up to the job.
"If the Government doesn't want a fishing fleet let's have a proper
decommissioning that will leave fishermen with some dignity."
Mr Bradshaw said: "At the December Fisheries Council we sought solutions
that ensure stock recovery while preserving a viable degree of activity
for the industry and those communities dependent on it. In line with this
objective we secured an agreement on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) significantly
better that the Commission's proposal.
"For the South West we secured much smaller cuts than the extremely
low TACs originally proposed, particularly on Western Channel sole, a
24 per cent cut instead of 50 per cent....
He added: "Co-operation between fishermen and scientists is crucial,
and there is no doubt that the outcome of the recent Fisheries Council
would have been much worse for the UK if the industry and our scientists
had not worked together in the way that they did."
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