UK fishing organisations have been united in their condemnation of the Benyon Report, described as “an attempt to shoehorn No Take Zones into the already established process for designating and managing marine protected areas.”
According to the National Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (NFFO), the report “has been driven by politically well-connected, socially privileged, environmental zealots, with an agenda that bulldozes aside the fears and legitimate concerns of those who depend on fishing for their livelihood.”
“There was nothing independent about this “independent” review,” an NFFO spokesman said, commenting that the Benyon Report seeks to bypass the established process for designating marine protected areas and designing appropriate management measures to protect vulnerable habitats in a careful and proportionate way.
“One would have to be extremely naïve to believe that it is anything other than a trojan horse for large-scale no take zones – despite scanty evidence that NTZs are relevant for the sustainable management of our fisheries, or the best way to protect marine habitats.”
The industry’s viewpoint is that the weighting of the panel, its terms of reference, and the derisory access given to the views of the fishing industry all give reason for alarm across the fishing industry.
“The Benyon Report has managed to unite the fishing industry in opposition to a badly-timed, ill-judged, initiative of dubious provenance and confused purpose,” the NFFO’s spokesman commented.
“There is an acknowledgement within the report that the fishing industry, and especially small-scale vessels with limited range would be displaced from their fishing grounds. A truly independent and balanced group might have explored a bit deeper into what displacement would mean. Instead that task it has been left to Government.”
During a meeting with DEFRA to discuss the report and its recommendations, Fisheries Minister Victoria Prentis emphasised that the Benyon Report is not government policy and that a process is now underway to develop a government response to the report.
She said that this would be published in due course and would inform future policy. In the meantime, Defra would be engaging with the fishing industry to understand its concerns and perspectives.
During the meeting the NFFO made it plain that it does not and has never been against marine protected areas or doing what is necessary to protect vulnerable conservation features and sensitive marine habitats.
"The fishing industry recognises that we have a responsibility to ensure that our ecological footprint is as small as possible and we have been jointly working with government on the best way to achieve that protection, using an evidence-based, measured and proportionate approach,” a spokesman stated.
"Providing adequate protection for marine ecosystems and fishing livelihoods and communities is therefore a question of balance, knowledge of what we are doing and a sense of proportion. But if the recommendations of this report are accepted, and implemented, we will be on course for years of conflict.”
