HUW CASTS A LINE OF SUPPORT FOR LOCAL SEA ANGLERS
18.02.2015 For immediate release: Huw Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle, spoke up for local anglers during a debate about unfair EU restrictions on recreational sea bass fishing in Westminster last week.
Under new EU quotas, fishing for bass will be banned completely for the first six months of the year and restricted to one fish per angler and one tonne per month for inshore commercial boats.
Huw believes that the EU restrictions are unfair and fail to address the real threat to the future viability of UK bass stocks.
Speaking after the debate Huw said “Whilst I support action to help bass stocks recover, this policy disproportionally targets the recreational angler and those who operate sea angling businesses. It may have made better environmental sense for the EU to consider a temporary commercial bass fishing ban altogether and leave anglers, who do not pose a risk to other fish species or birds, to continue to supply us with our stock. There is anger about this decision and I want to see locally line-caught bass back on our tables."
The Minister for the Environment and Rural Affairs assured Huw, and other MPs attending the debate, that he would consider the arguments raised when deciding how to move forward with the management of bass stock in our waters. The debate made clear to him that there is tension between UK fisheries policy and EU policy.”
Tim Macpherson Angling Trust Director and Chair of the Sussex Marine Region said “The Angling Trust has put a huge amount of effort into getting this debate and briefing MPs so that they understand the genuine anger and frustration of recreational sea anglers at the appalling way they were treated last year by the EU fisheries ministers.
Recreational bass fishing is a huge part of the sport down here in Sussex and, as recent research has shown has 3 times the economic value for the county than commercial fishing. I am outraged that we have been disproportionately penalised when the people who do the real damage to Bass stocks are still allowed to take large amounts of fish during the breeding season”
“We welcome the support of Huw in our battle and for speaking up for us in the recent Parliamentary debate. We also welcome the commitment from Rory Stewart on behalf of the government to revisit the commercial catch limits and to work with the recreational sector on a long term plan for bass, learning the lessons of proper professional fishery management from places like Ireland and the USA.”