In The Press » Nov 21st 2011 - Let the Boston fishermen earn their living
Let the Boston fishermen earn their living
'...Lincolnshire UKIP MEP Derek Clark fights on in fishing controversy ...'
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UK Independence Party
From the Office of Derek Clark, MEP, East Midlands
Rowan House, 23 Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5AT
Tel: 01604 620064 Fax: 01604 636002
Email: mep@derekclarkmep.org.uk
Nov 21, 2011
Ref: 058
The fight to save dozens of jobs gathered pace last week when Lincolnshire MEP Derek Clark met officials from the Inshore Fishing and Conservancy Agency.
UKIP MEP Mr Clark met with Boston Wash fishermen earlier this month and learned that jobs and hundreds of years of tradition were under threat due to fishing quota rules.
Boston Fishermen's Association has been limited to just 40 days cockle fishing in The Wash this year because of European Union restrictions and the way authorities have implemented them.
He said: "Yet again meddling legislation and restrictions are affecting jobs and livelihoods.
"The fishermen have been fishing the Wash for generations without problems so why do they need regulation now?
"I also wanted to know why Centrica has been allowed to dig a trench right across the Wash from Kings Lynn to just north of Skegness to serve the off-shore wind farm, which will have seriously disturbed the Ross Worm colonies, while fishermen are forbidden to disturb any part of the sea bottom.
"It appears to me that the Boston fishermen are being deprived of a living through practices outside IFCA control so it comes down heavily on those they do have the power to control - the fishermen themselves.
"It has the power to fine fishermen, and even to propose by-laws, subject only to approval by the Minister. No local elected authority has any say so, so in short, it's a QUANGO, something David Cameron said he would abolish."
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