The reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, allowing and encouraging national governments to take fishing techniques, job creation and sustainability into account when allocating fishing quotas could well mark the beginning of a new era for small fishermen around the coast. There are at least two under 10 meter boats in Weymouth that have stopped going out due to the present quota system. This is absurd and unfair. Small fishing fleets competing with factory ships was never going to be good for local fishing communities.
Our government now has the chance to rebalance these quotas. Greenpeace are travelling to harbours around the coast to gain signatures on their Coastal Champions flag. The intention is to ensure the Government act on this new European legislation to support our small boat fishermen. On Saturday 14thMarch they came to Weymouth. I was supporting this event as the Green Party Parliamentary candidate for South Dorset.
Local fishing craft represent so much more than hard cash to our harbour and to the town as a whole. These small boats are rooted in the local community. They attract tourists, educate our children and generate work for boat repair yards, net and pot makers.
Beyond this, they preserve and pass on skills that have been learnt over centuries and that mustn’t be lost to the town. We must always have the knowhow to fish sustainably.
And our small boat, local fishing fleet bring an unquantifiable sense of Weymouth’s essence.
But even if the government responds to these new opportunities and allocates the quotas more fairly, there are two planning documents for the town that could still present these fishermen with a challenge.
The Weymouth Town Centre Masterplan, which the Green Party has generally applauded, and Weymouth Harbour’s Business Plan are both documents that set out how the Town Centre and Harbour can be regenerated while maximising much needed income for the Council. In terms of hard cash this will come from sources other than the small fishing craft.
While both of these documents make references to the fishing fleet, the Green Party would like to see a real commitment to ensure these local boats are able to retain their current use of the harbour in the current locations, without being pushed aside for more profitable uses.
The Town Centre Master Plan is open for consultation until April 7th. . At the event today I urged supporters of the local fishing fleet to comment on the consultation document to say that support for the local fishermen should come above hard, commercial interests.
Whilst I am sure the decision makers want to retain the fleet and see it prosper, if push comes to shove they need to know that we back our fishermen.
Jane Burnet
