Quota system killing UK fishing industry and destroying marine environment

Unfair to small boats
The quota system is killing our fishing industry and destroying the marine environment. It's time for a change of policy
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Andrew Saunders, guardian.co.uk 30 Oct 08;

Every dawn, as the day's first light filters into the sky over the English Channel, small convoys of fishing boats leave the ports of the south coast. To most inhabitants of the region's bustling towns, the fishing industry is practically invisible. Yet while less profitable than the fisheries of the North Sea, Cornwall, and Scotland, men still ply their trade in these waters as they have done for thousands of years. How much longer they'll be doing this however, is a moot point. Current fisheries policy is putting many fishermen's livelihoods under threat.

The fleet here is dominated by inshore boats. Less than 10 metres in length, these vessels rarely venture beyond 10 miles from the coast to catch species like sole, cuttlefish, plaice, cod, bass and lobster. The boats are constrained in what they can land by their size and the power of their engines, and their owners employ fishing methods such as set-nets, traps, and lines that according to the Marine Stewardship Council minimise impact on the marine habitat. Perversely however, it is these fishermen that are falling victim to an unfair quota system. The local cod fishery is a case in point.

Cod stocks have undergone an unexpected rise in British waters in the last two years. Yet along the entire coast from Kent to Dorset, boats of under 10m are not permitted to land a single cod. This is because by February of this year, the boats had reached their combined quota for 2008 of just 55 tons. While these fishermen can continue to target other fish, they are required by law to return every cod, usually the most abundant and profitable species in the colder months, to the water. Most are dead. The larger fishing vessels and trawlers meanwhile, are free to hunt cod with impunity, as their quota allocations have not been reached. It is a similar story around Britain.

Each year the major share of the fish and shellfish quota across the country is allocated to the powerful boats over 10 metres in length that make up just a quarter of the total fleet. And for some valuable fish just 3% of the quota is reserved for the 2,500 inshore fishing boats that make up the remaining 75% of the fleet. That the minority of boats are awarded the bulk of the permitted catch is bad enough. The fact that the fishing methods employed by the larger vessels are hugely destructive – chief among which are bottom trawling and dredging – makes it a scandal.

Bottom trawling takes many forms but invariably involves dragging often vast nets weighted down by rollers and thick chains along the sea-bed. Dredging is similar but uses metal cages to sieve bivalves such as scallops out of the sediment. The impact of these methods has parallels with the clear-cut felling of the world's forests, killing marine life indiscriminately and leaving huge scars in the sea-bed (http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/problems/bottom-trawling). It is hugely wasteful destruction.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature some trawlers in the North Sea kill 7kg of marine animals to produce just 450g of marketable Dover sole. That's a by-catch rate of over 90% and most of that surplus, which includes juvenile fish and unprofitable species, is returned dead to the water. Add to this the fact that these vessels consume on average more than 2,000 litres of fuel for every tonne of flatfish landed and it paints a picture of a practice that is outdated and unsustainable. Yet rather than phasing out such fishing methods the current quota system actually encourages them at the expense of the smaller boats.

The industrialisation of the fishing fleet has caused huge and possibly irreversible damage to our seas. It has benefited just a few wealthy trawler owners while forcing countless fishermen from the industry and leaving many coastal areas facing economic decline. The sea has always been one of Britain's greatest resources and if it is to remain so, this trend must be reversed. The solution to the problem is clear.

From 2009 inshore boats should be allocated a greater share of the overall quota, with this increasing on a year-on-year basis. Such a policy would benefit fishermen who by necessity utilise more ecologically sensitive fishing practices, and encourage those who don't to switch. Furthermore, the smallest of the inshore boats whose impact on fish stocks are negligible should be exempt from quotas entirely, making the whole system easier to police.

The positive news is that policy makers are beginning to think along these lines. Currently under consideration at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a proposal to create a new class of vessel under 6m which could operate outside the quota system. If introduced, such legislation would do much to tempt fishermen away from their trawlers.

By encouraging the British fleet to downsize, the government will effectively phase out the use of the most destructive and wasteful fishing practices. Only this can guarantee the health of the marine environment while ensuring the long-term viability of the industry. In the meantime however, many inshore fishermen continue to struggle. Those on the south coast have been denied their principal seasonal income, and with living costs rising and wholesale fish prices falling, they face a long bleak winter while the sea they rely on continues to be blighted.