Red mullet fishermen in the Westcountry say they face a significant financial loss after a new electronic net measuring gauge made some pliable monofilament gill nets illegal.
Under EU regulations using mesh sizes between 70mm and 90mm are illegal for catching red mullet.
But fishery officers admit that the Omega net gauge may make some light-stranded mono nets (sold as being under 70mm in mesh size) stretch to as much as 74mm.
Newlyn red mullet fisherman Skipper Neil MacDonald said he has had to dump more than £700 in new nets measuring just under 70mm after asking fishery officers from Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (CIFCA) to check his red mullet gear.
He said: "I heard how some nets were falling foul of the Omega gauge (one initially designed for measuring heavy trawl netting). I wanted my gear checked because many of my nets were new and I was concerned. CIFCA officers quickly visited my net loft to measure the gear.
"After measuring 20 meshes on several nets I was informed that the average mesh size was between 71mm and 73mm making them illegal, and told I must not put them in the water.
"The only option I have is to dump the nets and buy smaller mesh nets that when checked don't stretch past 70mm. It's not the fishery officers' fault – they are just doing their job, but I am simply being forced to catch more juvenile fish, because if I buy 65mm mesh nets they will fish as 65mm mesh."
CIFCA's senior fishery officer Simon Cadman said: "There is no give-or-take borderline. The net is either legal or illegal. And there is no ease-in time to wait until existing nets are finished before buying ones that comply with the Omega gauge.
"Before, we would slide the traditional brass hand gauge into the mesh with a relatively light force, but with the Omega gauge the tension is set at ten Newtons, regardless of the twine thickness – and it is the same force for all monofilament nets. That's the rule and we have to use the gauge."
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN