A WESTCOUNTRY fisherman has sent a defiant message to the EU

– by giving away surplus fish he has caught to the elderly

instead of dumping it overboard.

Mick Mahon, 60, who has been fishing for 43 years, decided

to take a stand against European fishing quotas, and has begun

handing his surplus catch out free of charge.

Father-of-two Mr Mahon, from Newlyn, Cornwall, is giving the

fish away to elderly people walking past his fishing boat – and

will not accept payment.

Instead, he asks that people receiving his fish make a

donation to the RNLI or the seamen's mission charity boxes.

Mr Mahon, who owns the 29ft trawler J-Anne, said dumping

fish was a moral issue for him, and he was aware that there

were penalties.

He added: "In his speech, the EU Fisheries Minister said

that it was immoral to throw away fish.

"Well I'm a moral person and I'm not dumping fish any

more.

"I'm deliberately not making a single penny out of it

all.

"All I ask is they put a few pennies in the RNLI and mission

collection boxes when they pass by.

"We've all got TVs on our boats – you dump a couple of tons

of fish and then turn on to see people starving in Africa.

"It's a sick world that makes fishermen throw away

fish."

Mr Mahon's wife Joan said she did not think her husband

feared any reprisals from the Marine and Fisheries Agency

(MFA).

"I asked if he was worried about being fined but he said, 'I

hope they go ahead, because think of the bad publicity for

them.'"

The MFA enforces quota regulations by imposing fines on

fishermen who break the rules.

It said that it was against the law to land fish without

quota, regardless of what the fisherman then did with it –

"sell it or give it away".

Fish quotas are set by the EU, based on scientific advice

from Cefas (the Centre for Environment, Fisheries &

Aquaculture Science).

However, "by-catch" – untargeted fish caught in nets – is a

continuing problem.

Mr Mahon said his biggest by-catch was haddock.

"I have a quota for 500 tons a month and I can catch that in

one tow," he said.

"In all my years as a fisherman, I have never seen so much

haddock – I can't get away from it."

Paul Trebilcock, fishermen's representative of the Cornish

Fish Producers Organisation, said he could not argue with Mr

Mahon's moral stance. "There is definitely more haddock out

there than there has been for years.

"It's one of those quotas which is out of line with its

assessments."

Mr Trebilcock said he was trying to persuade the MFA to take

another look at the stock and reconsider the quota.

An MFA spokesman said it recognised there was unhappiness at

the size of quotas for the under-10-metre fleet.

"We are taking various measures to try and improve the

situation.

"But that situation will not be helped by individuals

breaking the law and the MFA will take the appropriate action

if the law is broken," he said.

Mrs Mahon' said that her husband – a well-known local

campaigner – was even considering retiring because he felt

there were too many rules and regulations.

She added: "He feels the authorities are far too strict with

fishermen.

"He doesn't agree with the quotas. He feels the quotas have

destroyed the fishing industry."

Some fishermen have found alternative ways of fishing which

removes the discard problem.

A bass-tagging scheme devised by Newlyn skipper Andrew

Pascoe and Nathan de Rozarieux, project director of Seafood

Cornwall, has created a sustainable inshore bass fishery by

returning to the oldest and most sustainable methods of

fishing.

Different types of lines and hooks are used, according to

the species.

There is no by-catch and because the fish are caught live,

any undersized ones are immediately returned to the water.

The Cornish fishing fleet is made up mainly of small vessels

under 10 metres long.

Less than a third of the fleet consists of netters and

bigger trawlers.

Yet only around 10 per cent of the quota for species caught

in the waters off Cornwall – cod, sole, Dover sole, monkfish,

hake, plaice, megrim sole, pollock, haddock, ling, coley and

langoustine – is allocated to Cornish boats.

The remaining quota goes to boats from France, Spain,

Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands – the result of fisheries

rights being given away when Britain joined the Common Market

in 1973 under former PM Edward Heath.