Channel fishermen protest to ban supertrawlers

French and UK fishermen held banners in the English Channel calling for an end to damaging industrial fishing practices

Fishermen from the UK and France have met in the English Channel to protest against industrial fishing practices.

Boats from Dover, Rye, Newhaven and Boulogne-sur-mer gathered in the Bassurelle Sandbank marine protected area.

They called for politicians to ban supertrawlers and fly-shooting from protected Channel waters.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said vessels must follow UK sustainability rules.

Bottom trawling and fly-shooting are destructive types of fishing which involve dragging weighted nets across the sea floor.

Fisherman Martin Yowarth from Newhaven, East Sussex, said: "We all want the same thing, healthy oceans full of fish for many generations to come, sadly our governments continue to ignore us."

Mr Yowarth said politicians had "promised so much, but have delivered nothing."

"We need fly-shooters and supertrawlers banned now, before more French and English fishing jobs disappear forever," he said.

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The protest was jointly organised by Greenpeace, Bloom and Pleine Mer, which is based in France.

Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner Fiona Nicholls said politicians were continuing to ignore calls from fishing communities on both sides of the Channel.

Ms Nichols added: "The UK government must end destructive industrial fishing in all of the UK's protected areas, and it has the perfect chance to do so at the end of this year, when the fishing licenses for all vessels come under review."

In a statement Defra said: "The new licensing framework within the Fisheries Act allows us to apply conditions to the activities of all fishing vessels in our waters - regardless of their nationality.

"All vessels need to abide by UK rules around sustainability and access to our 'Blue Belt' of protected waters."

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