Fishermen unhappy in spite of quota increase

Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said he had secured “the best possible deal” for the industry after three weeks of negotiations and two days around the negotiating table in Brussels.

Britain had fended off moves to cut fishermen’s days at sea to just four a fortnight next year, in exchange for greater national fish conservation efforts. While the good news for fishermen is a rise in quotas – species like whiting and haddock are up 15 per cent – fleets will be confined to ports for longer than before.

Barrie Deas, chief executive of the York-based National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations said: “The feeling is one of a mixture of relief that we haven’t been closed down but concern as to where we are going as an industry within the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

“Quotas are going in one direction and days at sea in another, which is an absurdity.

“It is a bit like a runaway train – we are trapped into a flawed management plan everyone recognises needs to change, but can’t because of the legal situation.”

But conservation lobby group Oceana said the deal for the Atlantic European fleet extended the over-exploitation of common fisheries resources by another year and said there was no point reforming the CFP if member states were “unwilling to comply with its principles and guidelines”.