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Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith MPLiberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Berwick Upon TweedWorking for you and the Berwick upon Tweed Constituency all year roundin Northumberland and in Westminster |
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Beith speaks out for north east fishing industry at Westminster
November 26, 2008 10:30 AM
Alan Beith MP speaks out for our local fishing industry.
Berwick's Liberal Democrat MP Sir Alan Beith has called for more help for the north east fishing industry, particularly smaller boats based in ports such as Amble, in the Fisheries debate held in the House of Commons.
Alan Beith said
"There are several serious issues facing our fishermen at this time and I am keen that the Minister should be aware of these.
"The main problem that the local fleet has faced this year in Northumberland is the enforced discarding of prime white fish because of lack of quota availability. This year is shaping up very much like last year, with prawn fishing giving very poor returns, but the grounds awash with whiting and cod. Even the smallest under-10 metre trawlers are having to dump about 150 kg of cod and 300 to 400 kg of whiting per day, regardless of what gear they use. For that, they get as little as 100 kg of prawns and 100 kg of haddock. The fish that the fishermen are out to catch are effectively swamped by the fish that they cannot land and have to discard. They regard discarding as an unethical practice, damaging to fishing stocks and to the housewife who could buy the fish. That is not what local fishermen, and their forefathers, went into the industry to do."
Alan Beith continued
"Skippers who have replacement vessels under construction are having great difficulty sourcing relevant quota or licences. DEFRA's new proposals for a two-tier system allows only those vessels with substantial track records to fish from the pool, so licence-brokers have put up prices by as much as 60 per cent. Skippers who had made binding financial commitments to buy vessels before the consultation proposals came out have been badly affected as the result of the consultation has been a serious increase in prices. The advice being given to the men is that they ought to go for only those grossly over-inflated licences at very high prices. That poses a difficulty for those who simply want to maintain a small, viable fishing fleet in the area."
Alan Beith also raised the proposed changes to the Sea Fisheries Committee which would come in under the Marine Bill. He said
"It is quite clear that in Northumberland there is no appetite at all for a body covering a larger area than the 70 miles of coastline that the Northumberland sea fisheries committee currently covers. The Minister himself gave the most powerful of reasons why the Government should do so, when he said that fisheries are best managed by people with local knowledge. That is the situation in Northumberland, and in the sea fisheries committee; it is a situation that we want to carry into new, stronger and better arrangements."
The debate also gave Sir Alan Beith MP another opportunity to raise the serious damage to the harbour wall at Amble which occurred as a result of the September floods. He said
"I hope that either the Minister or one of his colleagues will write to me quickly, indicating that the Department understands the problem and is prepared to give it sympathetic consideration. The issue is important both to the fishing industry and the leisure marina, which is the other contributor to the harbour. In days gone by, Amble was a coal port. That, of course, is all over, and it is the fishing industry and the leisure industry that depend on, and have to sustain, the harbour works that make it possible to operate from Amble."
The full debate can be found online at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm081120/debtext/81120-0008.htm#08112042000002
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