NEWLYN'S fishing spokesman has emerged disappointed from talks setting the industry's quotas in Europe last week.
Paul Trebilcock, of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation, has slammed mandarins in Brussels who set the total allowable catches (TACs), calling their approach "irrational and counter-productive".
The provisional levels for 2011 have been agreed after two days of negotiating; the results were a mixed bag, with ground gained on a few species, but lost on plaice, skate and rays.
After lobbying hard, fishing bosses managed to stop the proposed 15% cut in cod quota. Proposed cuts to monkfish and megrim sole quotas were also given the red light after strong opposition from fish producers' groups.
In total, six species saw a drop in total allowable catch, with sole and whiting the only ones to see an increase.
As the CFPO's leader, Mr Trebilcock said one of the most disappointing outcomes was on spurdog and porbeagle which have zero TAC. This means they are regularly caught in nets but cannot be landed because of EU rulings.
"Despite all the rhetoric from the commission about the importance of reducing discards, these stocks were not up for negotiation," he told The Cornishman.
"This amounts to a counterproductive, irrational, not to say schizophrenic approach from the commission. That was the most disappointing thing – they didn't even pretend to listen."
He said the CFPO had already begun talks with Defra and other member states to secure additional quota through international and domestic swaps and transfers in an effort to maximise fishing opportunities for 2011.
"It has been another tough year for fishing on many fronts, and that looks set to continue," added Mr Trebilcock, who vowed to continue the fight for fishermen's rights next year.
"At the beginning of these negotiations we made it clear the outcome would be judged as a package from our perspective and clearly the outcome overall did not deliver all of our priorities and in some areas was disappointing.
"There are many big issues facing the fishing industry in the coming year so we will be endeavouring to vigorously defend the interest of all of our members."
Article copyright THE CORNISHMAN