FIVE POINTS OF GOVERNMENTAL NEGLECT

1. Flawed scientific assessments of fish stocks differ greatly from the actual fish stocks reported by UK fishermen. This negatively affects quotas and has detrimental effects on family owned fishing vessels and fish mortality rates.

2. Illegal monofilament gill netting west of Shetland practiced by French and Spanish boats kills countless marine creatures every year, and this antiquated fishing method must be eradicated in totality, with controlled wreck netting managed around the UK coast.

3. French and Spanish vessels routinely dump their domestic garbage and used gill nets into UK fishing grounds. Taking up to 600 years to decompose, discarded gill nets catch and drown countless fish during their lifetimes.

4. Foreign fishing boats land and export their catches unmonitored, meaning scientists have no idea what is actually being caught around the UK. We insist that independent monitoring is conducted by a team of skilled fishermen or ex-fishermen who will give the vessel, or lorry driver, a certificate verifying their landing, otherwise, all landed fish must be weighed and sold on a local market.

5. Predatory Spanish and French long liners use illegal undersized fish hooks to target immature fish which effectively destroys seed stocks and harms future spawning biomass.

FISHING FORWARD UK GOALS

1. FISHING FORWARD UK strives for more ecological, social and economic sustainability in the UK catching and processing sectors to protect sensitive marine habitats, species, jobs and livelihoods.

2. Encourage young British people to enter the UK fishing industry to achieve self sufficiency and real sustainability in their lives, which means we promote the consumption of UK caught and landed fish and shellfish.

3. With changes in the management structure of the industry a possible 30-50% reduction in diesel use can be achieved across the UK fishing fleet and we support the development of alternative fuel systems for UK fishing vessels.

4. All over the world marine scientists have forced governments to ban gill netting. However, Spanish and French boats continue to illegally gill net and decimate fish stocks in the fishery west of Shetland. FFUK aim to bring this horrific fishing method to an end.

5. To achieve these primary goals we aim to have a FISHING FORWARD UK representative in every remote fishing port around the UK who will be dedicated to promoting the above changes on a local level, to help facilitate industry wide change.