Domestic fisheries Management—Implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy

Written evidence submitted by Mr Duncan Grant, Croesco (Lydd) Ltd (FSH 02)

I am the managing director of the above company which owns 3 under 10m vessels operating in the non-sector from the port of Rye, East Sussex.

The company is a fish wholesales/export operation, taking 1oo% of fish landed by 3 netting vessel based at Dungeness, 21 netters and 6 trawlers at Rye,2 netters/rod & line at Eastbourne, and 3 trawler/netters and 10 netters at Hastings. All agree with my representing their interests on such occasions as this, regional meetings etc.

The current quota system has seen our section trying to survive against all the odds of ever-decreasing monthly quota allocations with a devastating effect on earnings, ability to fund refurbishments, buy new nets etc. Our main target species are Dover sole, plaice, cod and skate
in this area. I say are, but now it’s a "should-be" as:-

cod... Since the cod in 7d have been agreed to be southern north sea stock and log books have been issued it means that boats have to physically cross the line from 7d to 4c if they are to catch any viable quantity. The current 7d allocation is just 50 kilos per month and where it had been thought that linking to 4c would resolve quota issues whereby we have a proven strong cod fishery which has been taken from us – instead the smaller vessels have to take a 2 hour or more voyage each way (with all the added danger and costs involved) to catch from the same stock as they could catch on their doorstep. Accordingly when they don’t make the journey and fish normally, they are forced into an almost 1oo% discard situation !!

Skate... Aligned to this agreed science with the cod stock the "powers that be" have assumed that skates in 7d are also north sea stock ! We are not aware of any scientific knowledge or appreciable investigation to justify that assumption and had the previous track records been properly examined then it must have been plain-to-see that the relatively few boats that targeted these caught significant quantities. One vessel took part in some scientific survey work and the scientists were amazed at the diversity of species and the quantities caught! That was some 4 years ago and that vessel landed 27 tonnes that year, now that is just one of 6 boats that normally fished on skate and it only worked one of the two main seasons each year whereas the others worked both! Now 7d allocations range from just 100 to 250 kilos per month on average, compared for example to other vessels allowances of 40 tonnes over the first two months of this year in the rest of area 7!! This was and should be a viable fishery which would take the pressure of the fishing of the other three main species and reduce discards of those.

Plaice... Similar story with inadequate quota to earn a living and yet fishermen being obliged to land as much of these four targeted species each and every month to stay in business, again causing high discard rates as ours is a mixed fishery with significant overlapping of each species main seasons. This obligation to operate on a monthly quota basis also means that fish of poor quality which are in full roe or are thin having shot their roes have to be taken at times of very poor demand and value.

Dover soles... With the monthly quotas similarly reduced, 2010 saw an appreciable number of fishermen being obliged to lease quota for the first time ever, again involving extra cost and having to fill out logbooks etc. This is generally a situation that is totally alien to us and there seems no rhyme or reason for our quotas to have come to such menial levels - even when compared to recent years. There have been hundreds of tonnes of Channel soles owned by vessels/p.o's left uncaught at year-end for the past few years largely due to mismanagement issues and this situation needs addressing with urgency. How ridiculous is it that small communities are struggling to survive and yet so much high value fish, with high customer demand is going uncaught?? !!

Thus the current monthly quota management system is unfair, immoral, does not allow anyone to plan their businesses, causes extreme and yet avoidable discards, forces us to target fish when is of low market value, puts pressure on us to go to sea through rough weather if the end of the month is approaching and we have not taken our quota and are desperate to earn what little we can. In short it is a disaster, and god-forbid, a disaster waiting to happen!!

The solution can only be to either

1) have a moratorium on quotas and give boats days at sea and oblige them to land everything they catch. This would give sound and accurate data for stock analysis of course, but then what to do with such knowledge if we are bound by the European Fishery Policy and its unlevel playing field in terms of the UK’s "slice of the cake"

2) or 2) have substantial local management (which we understand is under discussion) whereby we can, as individuals or as groups of fishermen, make decisions amongst ourselves as to when to go fishing (in relative safety) and to fish for which species by allowing swapping between boats/ leasing or buying quota over time. The consensus amongst those fishermen that land to our company is that they abhor the discards situation, the monthly quota system and would even look to work perhaps beyond those parameters to look at self imposed group measures to reduce discards and fish for better size of higher commercial value, giving consideration to larger mesh sizes etc.

Thanking you for your kind consideration, I very much appreciate this opportunity to have some input in these matters.

1 March 2011