European Commission recognises South East fishermen's plight

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 24th Apr 2008

Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP for Kent and Sussex, this week raised the plight of small boat fishermen with the European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg in an official debate in Strasbourg.

Sharon said "In the South East we are well aware of the ludicrous position the UK Government has put our local fishermen in by its disproportionately low allocation of cod quotas to small boats, having serious effect. I thought it about time this was officially recognised in Europe and that pressure was exerted to put it right".

The European Commission adopts fish quotas for each EU country, but it is up to each national government to distribute these within its own territory.

"Our local fishermen have been poorly and unfairly treated by the UK. The Commission made it clear that the share of the UK's cod quota for our fleet is considerably lower (at 3%) than its catch potential, and that for the protection small-scale fleets of vessels under 12metres the European Fisheries Fund can offer financial assistance," said Sharon.

"My intervention is very timely - at a crucial moment when the Commission is revisiting the cod recovery plan including a large chunk of the seas around Great Britain. This will be taking greater account of the local differences where cod stocks are more plentiful. I have been promised statistics concerning the English Channel and I will be following this up".

ENDS