Tag Archives: Department for the Environment
‘The job’s f****d’ – Fishers slam local MP for comments
The North East Fishing Collective (NEFC), which represents fishers from Hartlepool to Whitby, was established to support fishers along that stretch of coast after unexplained mass deaths of shellfish in the area in several events from September 2021 onwards left them without catches. Hartlepool MP, Jill Mortimer, last week shared a photo of her in a meeting with Environment Minister Mark Spencer in Parliament where she described how “prawners have experienced a temporary but significant reduction in their catches due to prawns burrowing into sands.” “The prawns and catches returned,” she wrote, however the NEFC has disputed this in no uncertain terms. >click to read< 14:57
The Cromer crab is a Norfolk staple – but does it have feelings?
According to a report by the London School of Economics, there is strong scientific evidence to suggest crabs do feel and that they should be treated more humanely. The government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, currently passing through parliament, is set to recognise crabs, lobsters and octopuses as ‘sentient beings’. Fisherman Mr Lee said the report’s suggestion that lobsters should not be boiled was “a total bloody nonsense”. Sue Riseborough, who served as Wells-next-the-Sea’s first and last gillying warden from 2016 to 2019, the recognition of crabs’ sentience is “brilliant” and “can’t be ignored”. >click to read< 08:55
Major restrictions imposed on Isle of Man queen scallop fishing
Fishing for the shellfish – which is a key income generator for Manx fishermen – has been restricted to one area off the east coast,.. The move follows a 40% reduction in the volume of scallops that can be caught. An annual survey showed stocks were at their lowest since 1993, although that figure was disputed by fishermen. >click to read< 11:16
Fishermen plead with MP to throw them a lifeline
Small-boat fishermen are being penalised – for not catching enough fish. And they warn that the move could drive them out of business and end centuries of tradition. Defra, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is capping the quotas of under-10 metre boats which did not land their full entitlement in the years 2010 to 2013. The fishermen say that Defra bureaucrats have got it wrong. A group of small-scale fishermen from the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall told their MP of their plight in a meeting in the tiny village of Cadgwith this week. Read the rest here 18:39
