SUSTAINABLE HAND LINE FISHING IS A SPECIAL CASE

5.26.07pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 20th Apr 2007

Hand Line Fishing

Colin Breed Lib Dem MP for South East Cornwall yesterday (Thursday) pressed the Government on the unfair application of fishing quotas on hand-line fishermen in Cornwall.

Questioning the Minister (Ben Bradshaw) in the chamber Mr Breed asked:

"The Minister will know that hand-liners employ a very good way of sustainable fishing and are big users of under 10m boats, yet they are still caught within quotas. Is there any movement at all on taking them out of any quota system?"

In response Ben Bradshaw said

"It depends on what stocks the hon. Gentleman is talking about. The simple answer is no. It would not be possible to create rules whereby fishermen using certain methods were allowed to catch whatever they liked whereas others were not. Quotas are an important means of controlling the level of fishing on stocks that may be depleted. However, the hon. Gentleman is right to imply that some of the hand-line catching that goes on off the Devon and Cornwall coast is very sustainable. I would encourage consumers always to ask about the provenance of their fish where possible, not least because of the pair-trawling problem with dolphins, and to go for line-caught, rather than net-caught, bass."

Commenting after Colin Breed said

"I think it is obvious that hand-line fishing is a sustainable industry and we should be doing as much as we can to support it. The best way to ensure the industry moves forward is to have a review of its status within the quota system. I shall continue to make the case for Cornish hand-line fishermen here at Westminster"

Ends