Cornish fishermen yesterday refused to be "bought off" by government offers of extra money to take their boats out of service and make room for Spanish trawlers in British waters.
They made their stand before William Waldegrave, the Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, told MPs that a further ú28 million would be put on the table to help fishermen fearful for their livelihoods. The money is in addition to a ú25 million decommissioning package already announced, ú16 million of which will have been spent by April.
The fishermen, who are threatening a prolonged campaign of protest over Spanish fishing rights, called on Mr Waldegrave to withdraw from the European Union's common fisheries policy and take British fishing grounds back under national control.
Geoff Bullus, a board member of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation, said: "To offer extra decommissioning grants is a bloody insult. It is a smack in the face. The Government is trying to buy us off to let trawlers from another member state fish our traditional grounds."
From next January, under a deal agreed in Brussels last month, up to 40 Spanish trawlers will be allowed into most of a 90,000-square mile expanse of sea round Ireland known as the Irish Box. The Spanish vessels are twice the size of most Cornish boats.
Mr Bullus, who fishes for hake, cod and whiting with a 55ft gill-netter out of Newlyn, will be competing directly with the Spanish trawlers. "It is crazy to allow another 40 boats into an area where stocks are already depleted. The Spanish trawl, with nets that have a much smaller mesh size than ours, can catch huge amounts of immature fish. The common fisheries policy has got to be scrapped and national controls reimposed. If the European Commission in Brussels was capable of managing fisheries properly, it might be a different story, but they are interested only in political deals, not in conserving fish stocks." Mike Townsend, chief executive of the fish producers' organisation, which represents 1,200 Cornish fishermen, said: "The idea of us having to scrap our boats to make way for the Spaniards is entirely repugnant and we will not accept it under any circumstances."
Mr Townsend added: "It is apparent that the Government is unable to protect the interests of the industry under the present policy. We have got no control whatever over other member states and it seems we cannot even fight our own corner in the Council of Ministers."
Richard Banks, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said: "The Government would have had to spend more on de-commissioning anyway because it is committed to cutting the size of the fishing fleet by 15 per cent by 1996 under a Europe-wide programme to reduce overfishing."
At a meeting in Derby on Saturday, the federation is to discuss whether to give national support to calls by West Country fishermen for "direct action" to make the common fisheries policy unworkable. This could include port blockades and refusal to fill in log books and report catches.
Jonathan Walter, secretary of the Padstow Fishing Boat Owners' Association, said: "There is much bitterness. Personally, I have become so disillusioned that I am planning to sell my lobster fishing boat after 15 years at sea. Fishermen do not seem to carry much political clout. If we were farmers, the Government would pay far more attention to us".
