SCALLOP FLEET FACES INSHORE RESTRICTIONS. A high level of scallop dredging activity off the Pembrokeshire coast has triggered a ban on fishing for scallops in inshore waters. Announcing the measures today, South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee has acted as concerns for scallop stocks and associated crab and lobster species has grown since a scalloping fleet, mainly from Devon and Cornwall based their operations in Milford Haven and Fishgaurd in the spring of 2008. A bumper crop of scallops, the shellfish so highly prized by television cooks, has occurred off the west Wales coast. But initially high catch rates, have begun to decline and vessels using heavy fishing equipment have moved into sensitive inshore waters not traditionally subject to the activity. As water warms up, the important crustaceans which underpin local fisheries move out from the rocky ground and are in serious danger of being damaged and injured in the pursuit of scallops. The inshore belt, 3 miles from the shore and islands is now closed to scallop fishing between St. Anne’s Head at the entrance to Milford Haven and Cemaes Head near Cardigan. The measures follow similar restrictions introduced to the north of Cardigan last month and will stay in place until the 5 month scallop closed season starts on 1st June. A Committee spokesperson said “West Wales has entertained a substantial fleet of visiting and some local scallopers since the beginning of the year. The vast majority have fished within the law in a legitimate way. However, scalloping gear can be very disturbing of the fishing grounds and we cannot jeopardise the hard work that has gone into building up our crustacean stocks. Scalloping will still continue in the outer reaches of the District but if problems merely transfer elsewhere, the Committee will not hesitate to extend the restrictions announced today”. The spokesman added “whilst not specifically a matter for the Committee, it has been particularly regrettable to receive reports that inshore crab and lobster pots have been towed away and destroyed by scalloping effort. This indiscriminate trashing of other’s livelihoods would be abhorred by all right-minded members of the fishing industry”. |
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