THE outgoing head of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association has laid bare the sobering reality of the challenges facing the fleet – as he looks back on nearly two decades as a voice for the industry.
Don Thompson said he had “mixed emotions” about his recent decision to step down as JFA president, a role he has held for approximately 17 years.
This, he explained, was partly because there are still a number of “big decisions” to be taken by Island fishermen concerning future management of local fish stocks.
While no immediate successor has stepped up to replace Mr Thompson, the 69-year-old stressed that the fleet needed to maintain a “close working relationship” with government “at all levels”.
His comments came shortly after States Members unanimously approved an amendment to sea fisheries legislation, lodged by Environment Minister Steve Luce, to raise the minimum landing size for lobster from 87mm to 88mm.
The move, which forms part of wider plans to gradually raise the landing size to 90mm over the next two years, is intended to help the local lobster fishery recover from a notable drop in saleable catch in recent years.
Mr Thompson described the change as a “really good measure”, but added that the Island needed to “get more of a handle on fishing effort”.
He continued: “You can manage fisheries in two ways – through the output or the input. Output is where you have quotas, daily limits, total allowable catch, and those have been shown to be quite a blunt tool that doesn’t always work.
“The alternative is to manage fisheries through the input, which is managing fishing effort.
“So [for example] we have just introduced permits for the scallop sector that has capped the fleet as it is, until we get more data on how much effort the stocks around Jersey can sustain.
“There will be other technical measures that need to come into the equation as well, but these are all big issues where we certainly need close working relationships between the fishing community and government at all levels. Fisheries officers, scientists, politicians and the fishermen themselves need to be engaged and find the right levels of fishing. So there is a lot of work to be done and decisions to be taken.”
In the Saturday interview on pages 10 and 11 of today’s JEP, Mr Thompson also outlines how the once “dynamic” fleet – which previously boasted around 100 full-time commercial fishermen – has diminished over the past 20 years.
He revealed that there are only around 34 “well-established” vessels left today.
Mr Thompson said: “It’s changed and we’ve gotten to the stage where, if we were to lose any more of the fleet, the infrastructure would go as well.”
