Latest News - (in date order)

10.12.11: Community Quota Group Pilot Project Response

As an integral part of the Industry Working Group, set up by the current Fisheries Minister, and following the Defra consultation earlier in the year, the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (Nutfa) continues to be at the forefront in terms of seeking changes to the current imbalance of fishing opportunities.

Every reader of Fishing News will of course be aware of the extensive tour undertaken by Nutfa to give inshore fishers the opportunity to have their say in relation to Defra’s proposals for the introduction of fixed quota allocations (FQA’s), based on an individual’s track record, and have their say they did indeed!
Nutfa take their lead from these fishermen and continues to put forward a strong case for changes to the status quo, not least as under ten metre fishermen around the coast gave an almost unanimous thumbs down to the Defra proposals for individual FQA’s.
Jerry Percy, Chief Executive to Nutfa told Fishing News, “since fishermen heard of Defra’s recent proposal to undertake pilot projects based on FQA’s, we have been seriously overwhelmed by the number of calls from members and others asking what is going on.
Many of the comments suggest somewhat bluntly that as they expected, Defra are taking no notice of the response to the consultation by the fleet and are intent of pushing through their own agenda, ignoring the wishes of the majority.
Although it’s too early to talk about the proposed pilots in detail as Defra have yet to announce the basis for them, the under tens can be assured that Nutfa have made clear their opposition to the FQA route for their sector and remain unclear as to what Defra is seeking to achieve against such a solid rejection by fishermen during the consultation.
At the same time, everyone recognises that things need to improve dramatically and very quickly for the under tens and Nutfa have put forward their own ideas, based on the view of many around the coast, for an inshore PO, importantly based not on individual FQA’s but for the inshore sector taking over, improving and enhancing the existing pool system, genuinely managed by the industry, for the industry.
The level of frustration illustrated by so many calls from fishers at what they see as Defra just carrying on regardless and wasting yet more time whilst they struggle to survive is hardly surprising. We will continue to reflect the anger of the fleet to Government and demand a fairer deal for these fishermen. I hope the calls keep coming as it shows that fishermen are waking up to what is going on and that this is the last chance for us to finally get a fair deal for them for their futures”.

9.12.11: Need for Appeals Procedure

Defra’s recent proposals for the under ten sector are based on the allocation of individual quota allocations (FQA’s) based in turn on a boat’s (or more specifically, an individual licence’s) track record over the reference period between 2007 and 2010 inclusive.

During Nutfa’s extensive tour of English ports earlier this year, a very significant number of fishers around the coast asked what the situation would be as they had sold or bought a boat during the reference period or since and had therefore unknowingly sold away their track record or bought a boat without an appropriate track record. Indeed, no one had thought of this scenario at that time as under tens had never previously operated on an individual track record basis. Defra’s response during the consultation was that there would have to be an appeals procedure to consider cases on an individual basis.

Nutfa has recently made specific enquiries with Defra on behalf of a member who, like so many others, had changed boats (in this instance, the member had built himself a new one) and was now looking for a licence as he had previously sold his old boat and licence (and of course unknowingly, his long term and local track record). Did he go for a straight under ten licence without any track record on the basis that Defra’s proposals may not come in or should he hunt around for a licence with a suitable track record, should one actually be available, to ensure that he could actually go fishing from his home port?
Defra are unable to satisfactorily answer the questions posed and have merely suggested that the fisherman concerned will have to make a business decision in the real world, hardly a helpful response and not least when a suitable licence would be many thousands of pounds and yet could turn out to be worthless to the fisherman concerned, depending on the outcome of Defra’s ongoing pursuit of the FQA route for under tens.

Nutfa have also raised concerns regarding the time it will take for the recently publicised Defra FQA pilot projects to be implemented and trialled, especially against a background of numerous ongoing vessel transfers that will potentially leave long term and experienced fishermen with no track record as it goes with the boat rather than remaining with the fisher.
Nutfa estimates that there are literally hundreds of under ten metre fishermen around the coast that will be queuing at the appeals desk having unknowingly given up their local track record or bought a licence with nothing useful on it (and God knows what’s going to happen with licence transfers between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!!) Defra have said that if you’ve bought a licence that turns out to have an inappropriate track record on it then you could potentially sell that track record to someone who needs it and use the money to buy something suitable locally!
A further question with regard to the fisherman above and others is in terms of the Appeals procedure, how would it work and where would the fish come from to continue to provide a livelihood in the event of a successful appeal?
It would, according to Defra, of course have to come from within the existing under ten metre pool. This in turn would further reduce the fish available to existing licence holders who would see their own FQA’s reduce to provide fish for every successful appellant.

Whatever happens, there are an increasing number of under ten metre fishers who are in licence limbo and urgently need some answers in order to be able to make informed business decisions or know whether they are even going to be in business in the future at all.

7.11.11: Nutfa provide details of their proposals for an Inshore Producer Organisation

The New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (Nutfa) has reached agreement with Defra to pursue an initiative for the creation of an inshore Producer Organisation (PO) for the benefit of inshore fishermen, alongside the government proposals for community quota groups.
The inshore PO will however differ significantly from existing PO’s in one vital aspect, by maintaining the collective, rather than individual holding of quota.

Jerry Percy, Chief Executive to Nutfa said, “we have spent a great deal of time talking with Defra and others on the Industry Working Group in an attempt to find a route through the historic inequalities of quota allocation and management, in an attempt to get a better deal for inshore fishermen. It has been anything but easy, not least as civil servants and those that benefit from the status quo are never keen to implement change that will have an effect on vested interests. Defra have proposed community quota groups that Nutfa consider simply a way for government to privatise a public resource through introducing rights based management to the inshore fleet. There are any number of global examples that demonstrate time and again that small scale fishers inevitably lose out to larger and more powerful economic players with this approach.
We are all starting from anything but a clean sheet and unless there is a way for inshore fishers to ring fence and protect the existing pool quota as a first step, subsequently augmented by quota from other sources, equally protected, then we believe without doubt that fishermen will suffer in the long run”.
Nutfa’s proposals to Defra include taking an incremental approach, recognising that setting up an inshore PO is more complex than a simple community group, but at the same time, significantly more beneficial to under ten metre fishers once sorted.
Taking over the management of the pool quota as a first step will for the first time give under tens effective influence over their own destiny through management by the industry, for the industry.
Jerry continued, “this is not an easy process to explain in brief but this approach will allow an industry wide group to manage allocations for wider purposes than the MMO is permitted to do, it will be focussed entirely on industry needs and will give inshore guys a seat at the table on equal terms to the existing PO’s. It will include the reallocated and realigned species mentioned in the Defra proposals and with EFF and Defra financial support, along with membership fees in keeping with existing PO’s , will finally allow under tens to begin to develop a resource base that it is currently lacking. Of course we cannot hope to immediately achieve the same level of resources as PO’s enjoy at present but we have to start somewhere. You get what you pay for in life and it is little wonder that the inshore sector has been shafted so royally over the years when they have not recognised the need to have effective representation. An inshore PO will also need to develop resources for marketing as all concerned have realised that first sale prices to fishers in some areas are woefully inadequate”.
Comments from fishermen during Nutfa’s recent tour of ports confirmed the need for the inshore fleet to take charge of their own destiny, recognising that there are a number of issues that will need to be faced in the immediate future if the inshore fleet is ever going to become economically viable. Based on these comments, it is Nutfa’s view that whilst local community quota groups run the risk of pitting fisherman against fisherman and group against group, a single inshore PO would have the critical mass necessary to have a real influence on policy and procedures that have been for too long biased against them.
Issues that only an inshore PO can address fairly and favourably for under ten metre interests include dealing with potential latent and dormant capacity, the acquisition of quota, the protection of quota within the inshore “family, including avoiding aggregation by more powerful economic interests within the sector and being able to stand up on both the national and international stage in support of inshore fishermen.
Jerry concluded, “under ten metre fishermen need to realise that they are valid businesses and act accordingly. The current RBS catch reporting system is a failure and has seriously undervalued the landings of inshore boats. We need to take responsibility for recording and reporting our own catches, we need to collectively decide on access to fisheries because if we don’t you can be sure that others will! Importantly, fishermen need to understand that there is an alternative on the table to the community quota groups and although Defra support the idea, they only took one line to describe it in their recent proposals document. Fishermen really need to be telling Defra to support Nutfa to get the project up and running alongside the community schemes in order to provide a real and genuine alternative option for them.

3.11.11: New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association urges caution for Community Quota Groups

The New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association (Nutfa) is cautioning fishermen considering signing up to the Defra offer of Community Quota Schemes (CQS) to ensure that they have all the details in front of them before making a commitment.

Jerry Percy, Chief Executive to Nutfa said, “the under ten metre fleet has been entirely disenfranchised by the historic and grossly unfair division of fish quota over many years. Defra’s current proposals seek to cement that iniquity once and for all, there will be no going back. We recognise that many in the over ten metre sector are also struggling to survive but two wrongs don’t make a right and all fishermen should now be demanding a review of who holds, and has access to the quota”.
With demand for both fish and fish quota rising, together with under ten boats having access to only around 4% of the UK quota, Nutfa are emphatic that inshore fishers can no longer accept the choice between being held to ransom by fat cats demanding more and more money to lease quota, a public resource, or losing their businesses and livelihood.
“Defra have attempted to change the way that inshore fishers can access and manage their own quota but the side effects of their proposals bear close scrutiny. Where other countries have introduced similar schemes, it has inevitably been the smaller guys who have lost out, not only destroying fishing families with hundreds of years of tradition behind them but also vulnerable coastal communities where there are often no alternative employment prospects. This is precisely why Nutfa has put forward a detailed alternative proposal based around an inshore Producer Organisation but focussing on collective rather than individual holding of quota, ring fencing and protecting the resource, rather than making it available to the highest bidder as a rights based system would do. Nutfa entirely understand why fishermen may well decide to sign up to community pilots but urge fishers to just make very sure what the implications will be in both the short and long term before they do so. The devil, as ever is in the detail and Defra have yet to provide sufficient information for anyone to fully understand what the effects of these groups will be for individual inshore fishermen”.