Crews, skippers and boat owners who joined a 500-strong peaceful demonstration in the capital came back to West Cornwall vowing to fight for the survival of their industry.

Fishermen say they are struggling to stay afloat now that fuel costs take up 60% of their gross profits, compared to 20% last year.

The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations and The Scottish Fishermen's Federation requested interim funding from an EU-sanctioned subsidy called De minimis aid.

The three-year funding would give approximately £23,000 to each fishing business. The Spanish and the French have given grants to help their hard-pressed fishing industries.

However, Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw, denied the request on the grounds that the funding was "not just sitting around in a pot waiting to be spent", and would not solve the situation in the long term.

"That amount of money gives only one month of fuel for every fishing business; We want to find a more long-term solution.

"We'd rather use the £80 million from our share in the European Fisheries Fund and we will be sitting down with the industry to work out a way to spend this for the long-term benefit of the industry," his spokesman later told The Cornishman.

However, Barrie Deas, chief executive of the NFFO, said the decision showed a total lack of commitment to the fishing industry. "Firstly, whether funding is available to spend on the fishing industry or not is a matter of political will and priorities. Government's in Spain and France obviously have fishing on a higher priority.

"Secondly, we never thought the De minimus aid would solve the problem, but what it would do is give us a breather and send the right signals that our government wants the fishing industry to have a future. That's why it was important," he said,

Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, who joined the Newlyn fishermen in London, said the minister's refusal felt like betrayal.

"We're desperate, the Newlyn fleet is starting to tie up, the whole industry is suffering, and he's doing nothing for us; I don't think betrayal is too strong a word."

In France, fishermen's' clashes with riot police, ransacks on wholesale fish counters, and blockades of the Dover Strait and oil refineries, have been met with government promises to bring forward £86 million from a £248 million three-year aid package, plus an extra £31.5 million to compensate for high fuel prices.

Mr Deas said similar blockades in the UK were not a legal option for his federation.

"We were involved in blockades in the 1990's and there is still a court injunction against us which is why we have a different approach.

"Culturally speaking France and Spain have more acceptance of these robust measures of protest.

"The system in the UK is much firmer," he said.

article copyright THE CORNISHMAN 

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