FISHERMEN have urged the States to act swiftly to resolve issues with the UK Government. They claim that stocks are being decimated after visiting boats were allowed to fish from three miles from island shores.

The Guernsey Fishermen’s Association does not believe the industry’s worries are being taken seriously enough.

‘Do we have to sit back and tolerate this?’ said president Peter Munro.

‘Guernsey appears to try and follow Jersey and the Isle of Man, but both have managed to secure their 12-mile territorial seas.

‘Surely it’s about time that our ministers followed the same course of action and supported our island’s important industries as they were elected and promised to do.’

Chief Minister Mike Torode has written to the UK asking for its direct involvement in protection of the island’s fishing grounds.

Two months later he had had no reply and a further letter had secured no response by the end of June.

States chief executive Mike Brown has been pursuing the matter with senior officials at the UK Ministry of Justice.

‘I will continue to press for a meeting as a matter of urgency,’ said Deputy Torode.

Mr Munro said that it would not take long to ascertain the impact of over-fishing in the 12-mile limit.

‘This is an extremely frustrating situation.

‘Every fisherman has had to invest heavily in a licence and in some cases has not been allowed to increase their vessel size due to the restrictions imposed on us by our rejected licence scheme.

‘This now leaves us at a great disadvantage and unable to compete and travel to new grounds as these larger vessels can search for fish.’

Crab grounds to the north of the island and waters for scallops to the south are being subjected to extreme fishing, he said.

‘This year appears to be a good one for scallops coupled with grounds that have been allowed to replenish,’ he said.

‘This has created a gold mine to these larger UK vessels and naturally our island’s lack of licensing has been greatly publicised, leaving us vulnerable to even more fishing effort.’