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Join our fight for rights of anglers

Monday, 12th January 2009

Download a poster to show support for UKIP's campaign to keep British sea anglers out of the clutches of the European Union.

Brussels wants sea anglers to be subject to the disastrous Common Fisheries Policy, imposing quotas on recreational fishermen limiting the number of fish they are allowed to catch. This is the same policy that has crippled British commercial fishing, reducing the number of fishermen 18,600 to 12,700 in a decade.

"This means the EU intends to turn anglers into criminals," says UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP.

EU bureaucrats claim the move to restrict recreational fishing would protect endangered species such as cod, ling, pollack and shark. There are strict quotas on commercial fishermen for these species, but no limits on anglers.

It is estimated that some 1.4 million Britons go sea angling each year and Brussels thinks the threat they pose to fish stocks is so great that they must be controlled. It is suggested that many have large catches that they sell.

Joe Borg, European commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, says: “Control and enforcement of catch limits should be the cornerstone of the CFP. The future of sustainable fisheries requires us to replace a system which is inefficient, with one which can really produce results.”

His plan is to give each EU state a quota for each protected species and national governments would then decided how this would be shared between commercial fishermen and anglers. Anglers would be banned from marketing their catches.

Mr Borg plans to force recreational boat skippers apply for licences and to stop fishing when their quota is reached. They would operate under the same high-tech surveillance system as commercial boats.

Anglers deny that there are many huge catches and point out that their sport sustains a £1 billion-a-year industry covering equipment, accommodation and boat hire. Ports such as Weymouth, Littlehampton, Seahouses in Northumberland and Arbroath in eastern Scotland earn millions of pounds a year from their recreational angling fleets.

UKIP will be lobbying MEPs ahead of their debate on the matter in April and the party urges YOU to write to your MEP warning that if he or she does not support CFP exemption for recreational anglers, they won't get your vote in the Euro elections on 4 June.

Download our A4 poster HERE

And don't forget to sign our petition! Please click HERE

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