HAND LINE fishermen in west Penwith are facing a fresh threat to their survival.
The 50 small boats which make a living selling hand-caught mackerel to supermarkets, shops and restaurants may see their accreditation withdrawn.
The official certification from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) guarantees the fish was caught using sustainable fishing practices – but it could be axed over the ongoing mackerel war.
Although it's more than 1,000 miles away, overfishing by Icelandic and Faroese fishing boats in the Northeast Atlantic means the 15 hand line boats in St Ives and 35 vessels in Newlyn might soon be unable to find a market for their products. Trawlers from the two nations have been accused of plundering the mackerel stock, each awarding themselves more than 200,000 tons of quota in 2010.
As the North East Atlantic mackerel stock is counted as one, the MSC will decide in December whether to cancel all accreditation; if the unsustainable over-fishing continues, all MSC-certified mackerel fisheries will lose accreditation by January 2012.
The bad news adds to the woes of hand line fishermen in the Southwest, who saw their quota drastically slashed without their consent at the end of last year. The cuts initially left just 38 tonnes up for grabs, but after an 11-hour compromise the Marine Management Organisation offered a further 50 tonnes of quota.
David Muirhead, secretary to the South West Handline Fishermen's Association, said his members would face a bleak future if accreditation was removed.
"We are not big players but it is a considerable worry for us," he said. "Nowadays most supermarkets will only take fish from MSC accredited fisheries.
"Would the supermarkets and similar buyers still take our fish because it is hand line caught? We have no idea."
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN