Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes, met with the fisheries minister last week to discuss the issues of quotas for our local fishers.
The meeting was held after the Lewes MP was contacted by the local fishing community in Newhaven who are concerned about some of the environmental measures which are limiting the stock they can catch.
While Pollock is not a traditional catch in local waters, some of our fishers travel to the South West and there the quota has been set to zero to protect stocks. This is on top of the Lemon sole TAC for our section 7D waters which means there is limited fishing available and the fishing community are concerned about this.
From the meeting Maria was able to gain a commitment from the Minister of a Fishing and Seafood Fund to compensate fishers for their inability to catch certain species and this is likely to open in February. The DEFRA team also committed to relooking at the Section 7D Lemon Sole TAC to see if this could be increased.
In addition Maria was able to find out that a new consultation is being run by the Department of Transport to exempt under 10 meter boats, which are the type in Newhaven, from having to have annual health checks which would save fishermen money as currently they have to pay to have these done each year. The consultation closes on 27th Feb and Maria is encouraging everyone to take part.
Maria Caulfield MP said “With the millions going into the new fish processing plant, the new fishing stages and the new fishing community company in Newhaven it is important that we fight for the Newhaven fishing community and as their local MP I will continue to do this.”