EU fishermen can 'plunder our waters' as no at-sea government inspections take place

EU fishermen have been allowed to "plunder our seas" after Brexit, campaigners have warned, as no at-sea inspections took place in the first two months of this year.

Despite promises to tighten regulation on European boats, and a clampdown on supertrawlers, government ministers have confirmed that no checks were done at sea in January or February.

These checks take place to make sure boats are using the correct fishing gear, and catching the fish they are licenced for. Usually there are between 10 and 20 random on-board checks a month.

Fish stocks could be being decimated, with endangered species killed unbeknownst to our government, campaigners have warned. UK fishermen are reportedly increasingly concerned about the quantities of sea bass being sold in European markets despite it being a closed season in British waters.

Chris Thorne, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our government is letting some of the most destructive fishing vessels plunder our seas without any oversight or inspection, including supertrawlers all of which are EU owned. Without proper oversight, these vast industrial vessels could be decimating fish stocks, catching and discarding vast quantities of non-target species and causing untold damage to the marine environment, even in our so-called ‘protected areas’.

"This is not good enough for a government which aims to be a world leader in marine protection. They need to step up and properly protect our seas from destructive industrial fishing. A good first step would be banning supertrawlers and bottom trawlers from all of our protected areas at sea, regardless of their country of origin. This would deliver an almost immediate green Brexit dividend. Failing to do so would squander the opportunity of Brexit, and undermine our government’s ambition to be a global ocean champion".

On board inspections have previously caused a supertrawler to be sanctioned for illegally catching 600,000kg of mackerel and caused another to be detained for suspected fishery offences in 2019.

Victoria Prentis, fishing minister, explained to Parliament that inspections had fallen due to Covid-19.

She said: “COVID-19 safety measures introduced in response to high rates of infection impacted the ability to conduct physical inspections of vessels both at sea and on shore during January and February 2021. However, inspections were carried out on quaysides with social distancing measures in place and an increased at-sea enforcement presence remained in place for January and February 2021 to deter illegal activity.”

The government recently admitted that EU countries will be free to use controversial supertrawlers, with giant nets that scoop up marine life indiscriminately.

Government sources said that they cannot "exclude these boats altogether", and can only currently legislate in terms of the type of fishing they do.

Shadow Fisheries Minister and Labour MP Luke Pollard said: “The government currently has no idea what is being caught in British waters or how. It is extraordinary to see the Government throwing so much extra money at surveillance at sea, and seemingly not using it.

“Having betrayed fishing communities so comprehensively over new costly red tape and border delays the fact that the Government has stopped enforcing our borders at sea will further anger fishers nationwide. The government needs to get a grip and urgently restart fisheries patrols at sea.”