Confidence of South West fishermen may be further shaken after hearing how the Countryside Council for Wales, funded mainly by the Welsh Assembly Government, is paying the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) to promote marine No Take Zones (NTZ), which may seriously affect their futures.

Such financial support may encourage a ban on all forms of commercial fishing in designated Welsh sea areas, regions that may form a significant part of the yearly income of nomadic Westcountry scallop fishermen and trawlers.

The situation was revealed by leader of the Welsh Federation of Fishermen's Associations (WFFA) Jerry Percy.

He said: "Formation of such NTZs threatens yet another layer of restrictions and is nothing to do with meeting the already established Habitats Regulations and the setting up of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) by 2012.

"Our fear, and a fear for the South West fishermen that come here, and North Devon fishermen that regularly work in Welsh waters, is that an independent body like MCS that seeks to lobby for its own ends is being supported by the Welsh taxpayer."

Correspondence between Mr Percy and Mary Lewis – project officer for CCW's grant to the MCS – stated how his federation "is most concerned". He said: "With all due respect, your assertion that CCW's funding will not contribute to MCS's wider goals described within its website Your Seas, Your Voice is a little optimistic, not to say naive, in that the public will not seek, or, in fact, be aware of any differentiation between the approach funded by CCW and that of the MCS itself.

"I also note that CCW is providing £40,000 of public resources, a figure that apparently represents 48 per cent of the total project costs for the MCS. There is, therefore, little doubt that the overall project, by accident or design, will provide a biased and all-inclusive face to the public in terms of NTZs and will fail to provide what is, in our view, the vital balance necessary if the public and others are to able to come to a balanced view."

In response, Ms Lewis denied that CCW's payments are to promote MCS's underlying aims but to, "raise awareness of the marine biodiversity of Welsh waters, and the need for and benefits of designating highly-protected sites to protect biodiversity and support ecosystem recovery and resilience. In undertaking this task, the MCS will raise public awareness that Welsh seas are special and host a wide variety of animals and plants; raise public awareness that Welsh seas have been degraded/damaged over time and no areas in Wales are currently highly protected."

Mr Percy told Western Morning News: "The aims and objectives of the MCS, of course, differ significantly from those of the federation and the sustainable inshore industry that it represents.

"MCS are effective at spreading their clearly one-sided version of the truth with regard to what they mistakenly consider the benefits of no take zones. But public money should only be used when it provides both sides of the argument. MCS's pretty pictures and cherry-picked statistics don't tell the public that there is little hard evidence of the benefits of these things in our temperate seas and that their introduction will put local and visiting fishermen out of work, or force them into dangerous waters."