Spanish trawlers ‘now plundering UK’s young fish’
SPANISH trawlers are catching undersized fish and landing them in a Cornish port before transporting them to Spain in lorries, locals claim.
The fishermen are said to be catching young hake – which are illegal to keep or sell – and docking at Newlyn. A video posted on Twitter allegedly shows one vessel offloading fish with no officials present.
One resident claimed so many UK-registered Spanish-owned fishing vessels were operating off the Western Approaches – the rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Britain and Ireland – that there are now more there than before Brexit.
The claims threaten to open up another front with EU member states over fishing rights in British waters.
The French have already threatened blockades and other measures because it says its trawlers have not been granted licences. ‘The only small fish or undersized fish that go up our pier are coming from the foreign boats,’ a source told The Fishing Daily news website. ‘Our guys down here fish with the gillnets and they are only taking the big fish.’
The source said the ‘sustainablysized gillnets let the juvenile fish through’ but the Spanish boats were ‘longlining’ – using baited hooks that don’t discriminate between mature and juvenile fish.
The source added: ‘I was down here earlier on this week and I was looking through the boxes there… and the size of the hake is just ridiculous.
‘They’re coming in and landing them directly on to the back of the lorry to be shipped to Spain and they’ve even got the labels on there, merluza, which is the Spanish name for hake. They [the crew] were all scurrying about. No MMO [Marine Management Organisation] bodies down there checking or anything.’
Local trawlers land mature hake to ensure that fishing for the species remains sustainable and the fishery is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.
A local wrote on Twitter: ‘UK fishermen have worked hard for MSC certification to protect stocks for years, what, so everyone else can just help themselves?!’
Another commented: ‘Does anyone inspect the catch before they load up the lorries?’
The post-Brexit trade deal that came into force at the beginning of this year states EU members’ boats need licences to fish in UK waters.
However, relations with France have soured over claims licences are being unfairly denied to French boats. Last night France vowed to push for legal action against Britain unless it hands over the outstanding permits.
Annick Girardin, the country’s maritime minister, told a hearing at the French senate said: ‘Nobody should be left stranded on the dock. We have obtained 1,004 licences. We are still waiting for 104.’ Mrs Girardin had earlier said the licences were ‘more or less confirmed’, raising hopes of an end to hostilities.
But she now says that France will tell Eurocrats to move against Britain. Possible measures include punitive tariffs or barring UK boats from EU waters. But there is little appetite among the other 26 EU governments to start a trade war over permits for French fishermen. ‘This is [French] President Macron’s fight,’ said one EU diplomat.
France set its own deadline of today for the row to be solved. But a Downing Street spokesman said: ‘We’ve never set a deadline. I recognise they themselves have set one but it’s not one we’re working to.’
An MMO spokesman declined to comment on specific allegations about undersize hake fishing but said: ‘We would encourage people who suspect illegal activity to report their concerns to us.’
Hake can grow up to 3ft long and weigh 60lbs. Spain has the highest consumption of the fish in Europe – about half the total.
‘Everyone else can just help themselves’