Scottish fishermen accused of ruining area

Trouble flared a fortnight ago when a scalloping fleet moved South to the Holderness coast, a prime shellfishing area scattered with 60,000 crab and lobster pots.

An emergency meeting is being held at Bridlington harbour today after the Scottish boats said they wanted to extend their fishing area even further, amidst fears that it is an "environmental disaster in the making".

Chairman of Bridlington Shellfishermen's Cooperative Andy Lee said the Scottish vessels now wanted to fish in an area of some 270 sq miles.

Their main concern is the damage from boats "ploughing" the sea bed with two four to five tonne steel beams, hung with boxes edged with a six inch tooth bar. These dig into the seabed to flip the scallop out of the silt, but in doing so destroy other marine life, including crabs and lobsters.

Mr Lee said there was no law against them coming to fish there but they had been banned in other areas of the country, including Lyme and Cardigan Bay because of the damage they inflict.

He said: "We all want to earn a living. We don't want to chastise these people but it is the method of fishing they employ.

"This is the biggest shellfish port in Europe and we are talking about a sustainable fishery that's not been trawled over for the last 15 years. It's a bit of a worry for the future of the port."

Fisherman Tony Pockley said the arrival of the Scottish fleet had caused chaos, with fishermen forced to shift gear and move to other areas which were already being fished.

He said: "We've just spent the last 20 years building up the area and we've virtually been farming it.

"Anything that is undersized goes back and thousands and thousands of tonnes of bait that crab and lobster wouldn't get normally are going in.

"If you compare it to a farm does a farmer plough in his sheep and cattle back into the field?"