May 3 2016.


Local MP Maria Caulfield met with members of the Newhaven fishing community last Friday to discuss the concerns facing their industry, and how the government could help to overcome them.

Opening the meeting, which was held at the RNLI Lifeboat Station Maria looked to highlight the importance of the industry to the local economy and community, informing the meeting of the work that she had been carrying out together with other MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Fisheries Group to bring about meaningful change.

During the course of the meeting, fishermen highlighted a number of factors that are continuing to be harmful to them as an industry, of particular note being the rules surrounding discards, as well as the relationship between fishermen and the local Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

Invited to attend the meeting on the evening was Director of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association Dave Cuthbert, who among other topics, updated the meeting on The Landing Obligation.

Speaking after the event, Maria said: “It was a great pleasure to meet with local fishermen, who are so important to Newhaven as a community, as well as the local economy.

“The struggles being faced by fishermen up and down the country are long standing, and I fully recognise that improvements for the industry have been slow. I want to put my full force behind bringing about real change and will be putting the concerns raised at the meeting forward to the Fishing Minister, George Eustice MP, as a matter of urgency.”