WESTCOUNTRY fishery leaders met with counterparts from around in the UK yesterday to establish a nationwide strategy on how to deal with the protected sea zones which are being proposed by the Government, writes the WMN's Martin Hesp.

The waters around the region's peninsula could play host to no fewer than five of the eight UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) being proposed, and representatives from the area played their part yesterday in forming a new industry-based group called the Marine Protected Areas Fishing Coalition.

Jim Portus, chief executive officer of the South Western Fish Producers Organisation, was at the London talks.

He told the Western Morning News: "We felt that we needed to have a coherent national voice to represent fishermen around UK – not just those directly affected by these proposed areas, but those indirectly affected by things like fish migration.

"We felt that the only way to speak was with one voice – and that's now happened," he said. "We will have a formal launch in the New Year, but we had an exploratory meeting with Defra officials this afternoon."

Mr Portus was accompanied by the chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation, Paul Trebilcock, and Andrew Pillar, of the Plymouth-based producer organisation Interfish.

"We are concerned about the impact the Marine Protected Areas might have," said Mr Portus. "We are worried about where they are located, about how they are going to be managed, what they are going to protect and what the fishing industry is going to be allowed to do within the protected areas.

"The new coalition is going to be a broad-based organisation that will form a negotiation platform with legitimacy across the UK," he added. "It will engage with policymakers at a strategy level to ensure the fishing industry is able to plan its activities around properly established protected areas and that policy can ultimately move ahead with our support."

Natural England will formally launch its proposed MPAs next week, but it has already been in informal talks with the South West fishing industry.

Mr Portus said: "By showing us maps of the areas that they would wish to designate, we found that something like five of the eight initial areas are off the coast of Devon and Cornwall.

"But we don't know to what extent they may be highly protected, or loosely protected.

"A couple of years ago, we had Lyme Bay reefs closure and our view is that this is not the way to go about achieving such a protected area.

"We hope that, with a strong evidence base that uses information and input from fishermen, we will be able to negotiate and talk about the correct locations for any proposed areas."