Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Haul back control of British waters, says fisherman
After 40 years at sea, fishe rma n Ph i l Edwa r d s wants Bri tain to take back control of its waters from the EU.
He believes the English Channel should be “split down the middle” for fishing rights and an exclusion zone created around the coastline.
The 55-year-old dad-of-three from Selling points to the huge decline in the number of boats as owners have seen their livelihoods strangled by “Draconian” EU quotas and regulations.
“Britain needs to reclaim its waters and gain its independence so it can set its own rules,” he said.
In 2010, he led a protest of 40 fisherman from around the east Kent coast over EU quotas which he said were destroying their livelihoods.
Mr Edwards, who fishes out of Whitstable harbour, used to operate a 47ft boat with three crew but was forced to sell it as running costs meant it was not viable with the limited number of fish he was allowed to catch.
“Now I’m a one-man band with my 33ft boat Lisa Marie of Arun,” he said.
“But I reckon there are half the number of boats there used to be.”
Mr Edwards says he now has a quota of 70kg of fish a month – about 20 boxes – and faces the “heartbreaking” situation of having to dump caught fish back into the sea.
He said: “I know a fisherman at Ramsgate who just made an administrative error with his paperwork which involved him being over his quota and he was fined £72,000.”
Mr Edwards says fish stocks are strong but claims Dutch trawlers are “killing it” for local fisherman.
He said: “Some foreign boats aren’t playing by the rules and others are allowed to get ‘tradeable’ quotas from the EU which is wrong.
“What we need to do is what Iceland has done to protect its own waters and fish stocks.
“We should split the English Channel down the middle and create an exclusion zone around the coast for British fisherman.
“Some say that the EU has put a lot of money into fishing, but it’s not gone to fisherman, while a fortune has been spent on administration.
“All over the country, fishermen want out and I only know