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1.29 pm
Mr. A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed): Fishing communities have an important place in the life of Northumberland. They are tightly knit communities with strong family ties, and many fisherman can trace their fishing ancestry through many generations. Traditionally, vessels have passed from father to son. Around 230 vessels are registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at ports from North Shields to Berwick. Most are small, multi-purpose inshore vessels and traditional beach-launched Northumberland cobles. Most of the vessels are skipper or family owned.
With the exception of Blyth and Amble, fishing activity at Northumberland ports has declined steadily since the early 1980s. There has been a change in the structure of the local fleet, with a growing number of smaller vessels. Those changes do not relate wholly or perhaps even mainly to the effects of the common fisheries policy, which is receiving widespread attention, although some of them are consequential. Our part of the world does not face the acute problems that confront our colleagues in the south-west, with flagged Spanish vessels and competition from neighbouring countries, but we face all the problems of quotas and the stringent enforcement of inspection in this country. I hope that the Minister will bear in mind today's Daily Mail headline:
The European Commission report published yesterday emphasises that whereas enforcement in Britain is rigorous, it does not appear to be so in many other countries. We cannot allow that disparity to continue, because our fishermen suffer greatly by it. There is an argument for a stronger European institution, to ensure the same standard of inspection throughout the European Union.
The decommissioning scheme introduced in 1993 has also contributed to the reduction in fleet size, and it may have an increasing effect. The root is the decline in fishing opportunities, arising partly from natural change, past over-fishing and Government decisions. There have been marked changes in fishing patterns. Traditionally, cod, haddock, nephrops and whiting were the area's main catches, although there was once a significant herring fishery. That is no longer a major part of the area's activities because herring declined so severely.
Between 1984 and 1994, the volume of cod landed fell by 61 per cent., haddock by 74 per cent. and whiting by 69 per cent. Inshore shellfish fisheries for lobster and crab are also suffering decline. Landing figures have fallen markedly since the early 1960s, and it is clear that the area's fishery industry is in decline. The lack of any limit on the landing of berried female lobsters is a regular complaint of the fishing community, which hopes for action after years in which a proper conservation policy has not been followed.
The industry's decline has been exacerbated by the Government-imposed decision to phase out the licensed salmon fishery, without any scientific justification but as a result of pressure from landowners in Scotland and angling interests. I take a dim view of the Minister's attempts to heavy the National Rivers Authority into giving him different advice. He put the NRA under considerable pressure to recommend a later start to the
season, with no fishing before 1 May. The effect will be to allow the same fish to be caught by Scottish nets, fixed engines and rods. As it is, the large majority of early fish are already caught by Scottish nets and rods.
The decline in other sections of the fishery has been partly offset by increased landings of nephrops, but the total value has fallen in real terms. The nephrops fishery is left as a crucial element in the survival of the area's fishing fleet. However, some fishermen in small communities are no longer able to fish for cod, whiting or herring and will soon be unable to fish for salmon because of the Government's decision. They are left without the ability to benefit from the prawn fishery because their boats are not of a suitable size, so they are dependent on the limited lobster and crab fishery.
The industry's importance becomes clear when it is set against the problems of the whole area. The north-east has the highest unemployment in mainland Britain. The area covering Amble and Seahouses had average unemployment of 12.3 per cent. in 1995, with a rate of 16.7 per cent. for males. The industry is significant not only for the fishermen but for people who work in the supporting industries. Fishing-related jobs account for about 2.6 per cent. of the Alnwick work force. The North East Fishing Forum reported that from the Tyne to the Tweed around 1,350 people were employed in jobs directly relating to fishing and that a further 2,000 jobs were supported by the industry. Those jobs are vital to an area whose economy is fragile.
There has been a decline in the number of full-time fishermen in many of Northumberland's ports. Seahouses lost 38 full-time fishermen between 1984 and 1994, which is more than half the previous total. Seahouses has only five keel boats now instead of 25 two decades ago. Berwick lost most of its fishermen, and Beadnell and Boulmer lost nearly half their fishermen. Holy Island is declining as a fishing port, and Craster has also declined to a low level. There have been increases in Amble and Blyth because of the nephrops fishery, but there has been a decrease at almost every other port.
In November 1995, Nautilus Consultants reported to the European Commission that many fishermen would find it hard to obtain work outside the industry, largely because many of them--although experienced--do not have formal training skills beyond basic safety requirements. Qualified skippers found it relatively easy to obtain other work, but crews found it much harder. When fishermen do find other jobs, they have strong qualities that make them attractive to employers. They are prepared to work long and unsociable hours, have a knowledge of the sea, navigation and mechanics, and are familiar with team work--all of which make them good employees. More than 70 per cent. of fishermen in the study who obtained jobs remained in them and worked happily to the satisfaction of their employers.
Past policy has been aimed at reducing the size of fleets throughout the European Union without paying enough regard to socio-economic circumstances and the ability of fishermen to find alternative employment, which depends on factors such as job availability and pay. Decommissioning alone does not take those factors into account. There are European programmes to deal with such changes, and the purpose of this debate is to press the Government to make maximum use of them in areas where the decline of the fishing industry has a particularly harsh effect on small communities.
The PESCA scheme aims at dealing specifically with redeployment, but there are two fundamental conditions. Any project must comply with EU guidelines on state aids for the fishery sector, and it must not lead to an increase in fishing effort. Eligible projects include support for the creation or development of local economic promotion, support for local and community initiatives that generate enterprise, support for small and medium-sized businesses, information and advice on business performance and access to markets, support for employment and training projects, and schemes to innovate and restructure industry.
PESCA funding can be used to improve the skills of fishermen and to enhance their employability, although many fishermen want to stay in the industry--70 per cent. of those in the Nautilus survey would return to it if they had the opportunity. PESCA takes money from the European regional development fund, the European social fund and FIFG--the financial instrument for fisheries guidance. The ERDF deals with the promotion of alternative economic activities for business, particularly small and medium-sizes enterprises, including the promotion of tourism. That is highly relevant to Northumberland, which is a most attractive area. The European social fund covers vocational training, guidance, counselling projects and employment support.
There are funds available to safeguard and enhance fisheries. The FIFG includes support for the development of marine agriculture, such as feasibility studies, market research and improved marketing, promotion and quality of fish products, and research and technical assistance to improve the industry's environmental and economic sustainability.
Notably, other regions have been successful in obtaining funding for fishing communities. The Republic of Ireland has already spent £35 million out of the PESCA scheme, some of it on lobster stock enhancement, which is one of the things that we want in Northumberland. Scotland also has a scheme, although I understand that it is directed at those leaving the industry. Why has England apparently not got its act together? What is MAFF doing? One of the anxieties is that, because of the British rebate, Government Departments are not particularly zealous in pressing for money under these funds, because it is assumed that if we do not get money from these funds it will come back to us anyway in the rebate. That wholly defeats the purpose of such measures, which is to direct funds towards areas where the impact of European policies, or just general structural change, is such that an adjustment is needed. We need help. The Ministry is responsible for the promotion of the fisheries industry and the areas dependent on it, so it should ensure that we do not have to wait for some rebate cheque that goes into the general coffers of the Government but that we can use the funds for the purposes for which they are intended: to help hard-hit fishing communities.
The Nautilus study identified particular problems in Northumberland which make the area an ideal priority for funding. The lack of any dominant alternative industries means that it is important to have priority project areas. There have been discussions with fishermen, development trusts and local authorities, and they have extended to measures to enable fishermen to move into activities directly related to fishing, such as lobster stock
enhancement, and measures to enable fishermen to get into leisure activities which can provide employment--the Farne islands and other offshore attractions, for example, for which opportunities could be further developed. We have discussed measures to improve the training of fishermen in other seagoing activities and to help them to go into small business. Can we count on the Minister to back such initiatives? We shall need as much help from central Government as we can get.
One project designed to help rejuvenate the lobster fishery has already had a small offer of funds from MAFF. I think that it is only £5,000, but at least it is helpful. We have received European funding for a winch and slipway on Holy Island, but there is so much more to be done and there are many difficulties for local people to overcome. One development trust pointed out how difficult it is to get private finance for initiatives in largely rural areas. Private finance opportunities seem to be greater in large conurbations, where the institutions are located and where the projects are of a scale to lend themselves to private finance involvement. The rural areas rely heavily on pump-priming money from the public sector. There are sometimes difficulties with getting the money through, whether it is the European contribution or the British Government element.
Problems of infrastructure also need attention: harbour walls, facilities for the covered landing of fish, and storage facilities. Both Seahouses and Amble have such problems, which could be attended to.
I ask the Minister to recognise all the changes that I have described. Not just those that arise from the European common fisheries policy or from the rigorous enforcement of the quota policy, which I regard as an extremely unsatisfactory conservation policy--throwing dead fish back into the sea does not seem to me to be a sensible way of conserving it for the future--but other changes, too: the decline of some of our key fisheries and the artificial closure of the salmon fishery. All those leave him with a huge responsibility to try to assist Northumberland fishing communities to consolidate and use their fishing opportunity for the future, and to replace lost opportunities with new forms of employment to keep these families whose activities are so much part of the fabric of life in our area.
"We obey the rules and they cheat".
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