Alderney fishermen unhappy at French Ribs taking stock

Among them was Chris Reeves, who said there was a problem with the non-commercial French Ribs fishing regularly at shoal spots and taking hundreds of pounds’-worth of fish back to France.

Guernsey’s Sea Fisheries confirmed it has boarded the vessels, which have also been spotted off Sark and Guernsey, but there was no evidence commercial quantities of fish were being caught, so no action was taken.

Mr Reeves has kept lobster pots since 2005 and diversifies by line-catching pollack at the reefs where they shoal.

He and other fishermen regularly spot the same two or three Ribs targeting spots where many kilos of pollack can be lifted in two hours. Leisure fishermen can fish legally within Alderney’s three-mile limit.

‘At any one time in the summer I can go round doing pots and there will be more foreign Ribs fishing in those waters than any locals,’ he said.

‘On one occasion there were five Ribs at the Nerpits and probably more around Burhou and more on Casquets. They will start now, from April, as long as the weather lasts, until September.

‘It nails us for pollacking. When you get to a pollack shoal area you mark it and make sure it hasn’t been hit before.

‘But then you go to those areas that you’ve seen them at the day before and there’s nothing happening. That’s a valuable catch. The market pays £3 to £4 per kilo for gutted pollack.’

Ray Gaudion, former president of the Licensed Commercial Fishermen’s Association, said it was the responsibility of Guernsey Sea Fisheries now that Alderney did not have its own officer.

‘Guernsey don’t do anything about it.’

Mr Reeves said the only workable solution, in the absence of being able to police the area adequately, was to ban French fishermen from Alderney territorial water.

It was legislation that the General Services Committee could bring in, he said, as long as it had the effect of conserving stocks.

‘A law is only as good as its enforcement. If we can’t properly investigate, we need to ban French fishing boats altogether. They bring nothing to the Alderney economy because they don’t come ashore.’

Guernsey deputy Joe Mooney said if fishermen took pictures and could provide GPS co-ordinates he would ensure that Sea Fisheries followed up complaints.

A States of Guernsey spokesman said there was no evidence commercial fishing was taking place.

‘Sea Fisheries can confirm that a small number of reports of French Ribs in the waters around Alderney have been received in recent years. The same vessels have also been seen in Sark and Guernsey waters from time to time.

‘In response to the reports, fisheries patrols were directed to the areas and French Ribs were boarded to investigate reports of fishing by the occupants.

‘These investigations confirmed that they were recreational vessels – and hence not needing to be in possession of “commercial licences” – and that there was no evidence they were catching commercial quantities of fish.

‘There are no restrictions on recreational fishing in Bailiwick waters apart from those currently affecting bass.’