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• Summary of meetings held in Area VIId

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Summary of meetings held in Area VIId with the fishing industry by fish stock

We recently conducted a serious of quota meetings held in Hastings, Shoreham and Portsmouth on the 8, 9 and 10 February. Many thanks to everyone who attended.

The surgery style meetings allowed 47 fishermen to talk directly to us and to give their ideas about how the quota for their local fishery may be managed throughout the year. Initial allocations and the future for the inshore fleet were also discussed.

Email addresses were collected and these will be added to the Area VIId consultation list. This will allow email consultations to take place, which can be conducted in a quicker time scale allowing for a more flexible approach to managing the fishery. As always, the Marine Management Organisation will try to acquire more quota throughout the year by way of swaps and gifts and this may affect the monthly catch limits.

Sole VIId

The initial allocation should be in the region of 406 tonnes (subject to banking and penalties).

Comments indicate that this is an important fishery and a reasonable catch limit is needed from March through till November.

However, the general trend was for a spring and autumn fishery. The feeling was to increase limits for the spring fishery from March through until May then again September, through till the year end.

Plaice VIIde

The initial allocation should be in the region of 285 tonnes (subject to banking and penalties).

As area VIId is so large there were slight conflicts in views but in general a fishery is required from March through till November. Late spring and autumn were also identified as key times to peak limits.

Skates and rays VIId

The initial allocation should be in the region of 95 tonnes (subject to banking and penalties).

The reason for the high peak to catch limits last year was explained and it was felt that a similar profile could be followed this year but without the severity of the peak.

Cod VIId

The initial allocation should be in the region of 48 tonnes (subject to banking and penalties).

Due to the low allocation it was felt that making the most of the quota at the start and end of the year was important. All parties agreed that the closure during the summer was inevitable.

Other quota stocks

Other stocks of interest that were mentioned included west coast mackerel, pollock and west coast horse mackerel.