Minister promises to act on MP’s call for Fairer Fishing Quotas

The MP, whose constituency includes Newlyn, one of the UK’s biggest fishing ports, challenged the Minister to look closer at new scientific evidence indicating that pollack and Dover sole stocks are both more abundant than previously thought. If accepted, this could help ensure Cornish fishing vessels do not have to tie-up for much of the rest of the year, as is feared at present. The Minister gave a commitment to “go away and look at [the science] more closely and come back to the Honourable Gentleman”.

The St Ives constituency also includes the Isles of Scilly, and Mr George highlighted the ‘disproportionate impact’ of rules designed for super-trawlers being applied to low-impact fishers like Jof Hicks, a St Agnes resident who catches crab and lobster in pots made from home grown withy and tamarisk, using a home-built boat powered by sail and oar. “If we could take unnecessary burdens from the shoulders of people such as Jof Hicks, that would be enormously appreciated.” The Minister said “I am very much taken by what the hon. Member for St Ives said about low-impact fishing”. Mr Zeichner agreed to investigate this and work with Mr George to see if more could be done to help.

The Minister was challenged for assurances that EU vessel access agreements (which are due to be renegotiated with the EU by next year) will not be used as a bargaining chip in the UK’s attempts to get access to the EU’s €150 billion defence contract. The minister said, “We are determined to get the best possible outcome for our nation, and I am determined to get the best possible outcome for our fishing sector because there is a widespread sense that people were sold short last time around.” But Mr George noted that “we” and “I” mean two very different things: “It appears that the minister wants to get a better deal for our fishing fleet, but that his colleagues in Government may over-rule him for the sake of the perceived ‘national interest’. This is precise what happened in 1974 when Ted Heath described the fishing industry as “expendable” in negotiating the UK joining the EU (then known as the Common Market) and in 2021 when the Conservatives negotiated the Brexit deal.”

Mr George noted during the debate that the MPs who make the most noise in public about fishing were not present for the debate: “It is interesting that the political parties that always seem keen to use the fishing industry as the poster boys for their campaigns and send flotillas up the Thames do not seem terribly interested in discussing the detail and doing the hard yards with us today.”