Beith demands help for Northumbrian fishing industry in Commons debate

2.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th Jul 2008

Liberal Democrat Sir Alan Beith MP confronted the Fishing Minister, Jonathan Shaw MP, after securing a debate over inadequate fishing quotas and insufficient support for small fishing vessels.

The urgent debate called by Sir Alan concerned the north east fishing industry's current crisis brought on by increasing fuel prices, poorly researched quotas on landable fish, and the specific threats facing vessels under 10 metres long.

Sir Alan said,

"Many people still depend for their livelihood on the fishing industry, but if things go on as they are, the industry is in danger of virtually disappearing. Fishing assists tourism in our area, as well as the production of food.

"Fishermen cannot even earn the cost of the fuel because they cannot land the fish that they catch, which are plentiful, and they cannot catch the fish that they are allowed to catch because they are not plentiful at the moment.

"Without real help now, we may not have this industry for much longer."

Northumbrian fishermen are particularly suffering as a result of the quotas that are allocated for this region that regulate how many tonnes of a particular species of fish may be landed each month. Due to the reduction in the quotas in this region, a number of fishermen have had to move their boats up to Eyemouth to fish for prawns which are more generously catered for by fishing quotas.

At present, there is no allocation to catch whiting and only recently was a small quota granted for mackerel, despite strong sustainability of mackerel as they are caught using hand lines.

In December, the Council of Ministers exercised the Hague preference which allowed an extra 1,400 tonnes quota for whiting in the UK but this has remained unallocated to a region or boat type for more than six months. If the HP whiting quota were allocated to the under 10m sector, this would be a real help to the small boats in the north east.

When quotas for fishing were introduced, virtually no data was collected on fishing from vessels in the under 10 metre sector. Thanks in part to pressure from Sir Alan Beith, who has been campaigning for changes to support this sector, DEFRA and the Marine Fisheries Agency, a new survey has been undertaken to examine the effect that such crews have on fishing stocks. From this, more favourable allocations may be drawn from the European Union.

The Fishing Minister agreed with Sir Alan Beith that actions had to be taken in order to protect the remnants of the Northumbrian fishing fleet. However, the Minister failed to offer solutions to help the fishermen now and instead concluded that a period of consultation rather than action would follow.

Speaking after the debate, Sir Alan Beith said,

"Despite the urgency of the debate, the Minister's replies were wholly inadequate for the crisis at hand. I will continue to push for the data collection on the under 10 metre sector of the fishing fleet which will help in the fight for better quota allocations."