LOBSTER fishermen in Scotland have launched a stormy protest against a Northumberland authority’s failure to net rule-breakers along the coast.
Despite demanding action for nearly a decade the fishermen claim nothing has been done to stop the lobster grounds off Berwick on Tweed being overfished.
The situation has grown so serious that several fishermen have left the industry because they can no longer make a living.
Bryan Blackie, who fishes out of Eyemouth in Berwickshire, said he knew of at least four men who had given up because their concerns had not been addressed.
Under the current rules, each boat is allowed to set 800 pots but this can be exploited by anyone who has more than one boat and has allocation for the others, even though only one boat is being used to set thousands of pots.
Blackie said: “The lobster fishing here used to last three months but now it is just three weeks because of all the pots plastered on the ridges of the seabed.”
Those fishing out of Eyemouth and Northumberland set pots in the sea near Berwick and Blackie claim complaints have been made for years about the overfishing but no action has been taken by the Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (Nifca).
“This has been going on for nearly a decade and we’ve continually been asking for the rules to be enforced but we are just being fobbed off,”
said Blackie.
“My laddies want to follow me into the industry but all the lobsters are being creamed off and no one else can get in. What’s the point in having rules if no-one does anything about it when they’re broken?”
Another Scot who has left the industry because of the situation said: “The evidence has been sent to Nifca multiple times from multiple sources over many of years.
“Not only is this breaking and making a mockery of the bylaws all other fisherman have to obey but it is ruining the inshore fishing fleet that will affect generations to come.”
A Nifca spokesperson said: “We take all the information we receive extremely seriously, and this authority has a record of successful prosecutions and Financial Administrative Penalties for breaches of our bylaws.
“We therefore regularly receive information from the public but, to be able to act on this, it must meet the necessary standard of proof to be admissible in court. If an individual has concerns, we would encourage them to get in touch.”
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