Damaging fly-shooting fishing in Channel sparks concerns msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fly-shooting is a controversial fishing technique
Credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
The EU has been accused of a land grab by fishing groups as it has drastically increased the amount of fly-shooting boats in UK waters.
Fly-shooting is a controversial fishing method in which multiple nets are used to encircle and capture entire shoals of fish, and heavy ropes drag across the ocean floor, displacing whatever is underneath.
There were originally just a handful of fly-shooters in our waters, but now there are 75 high-powered boats using the method all across UK waters to scoop up bass and mullet.
The Chair of New Under Ten Fishermen s Association Jeremy Percy told The Fishing Daily: According to French inshore fishermen, it is a waste of time going to sea after these boats have been fishing locally as there is nothing left.
Ted Heath, the former Tory Prime Minister (Image: GETTY)
“Ms Prentis (who infamously admitted to having not read the Withdrawal Agreement as she was too busy organising her local Nativity Trail) promised that ‘..any access negotiated with the EU will cover only the UK’s exclusive economic zone, and not the 0 to 12 mile zone. That remains the case’.”
However, Mr Percy said the week before the Agreement was signed, no fewer than 17 large Belgian beam trawlers had been working the six-mile line between Hastings and Brighton.
He added: “It is little wonder then that our own inshore fishermen’s main complaint these days is that there are few fish making it through this European curtain of large scale fishing effort and to within reach of these smaller scale fishermen.
LARGE sections of Britain s fishing industry are facing imminent disaster as a direct result of the trade deal signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, an industry chief has warned.