Deputy Lee Van Katwyk has taken on responsibility for the ‘Blue Economy’ and said he was contacting all the island’s commercial fishermen to set up a meeting early next year to hear first-hand about challenges they were facing.
He added that he hoped he could ‘offer an idea or two of my own on how to assist with our eight-legged visitors’.
‘We have high hopes that the fishing industry can recover in some way, shape, or form,’ he said.
‘Where there’s a will there’s a way – if there’s a desire to fish and export octopus then I am willing to help facilitate that trade in any way possible.’
Local fisherman have previously suggested that Guernsey could take advantage of the increase in octopus numbers if a way of collectively exporting them to France or England could be found.
As octopus numbers have grown in local waters there has been a devastating decline in more traditional fishing areas.
This year in Portugal, where over 15,000 tonnes of octopus is consumed every year, the country implemented a staggered octopus fishing ban along its coast to protect stocks.
Former Economic Development Committee president Neil Inder said he had heard very little from the local fishing industry over the course of more than four years at the helm of the committee.
The industry appears to have suffered from a lack of co-ordination since the death of the president of the Guernsey Fisherman’s Association, Barry Paint, a former States deputy, in July 2022.
Individual fishermen have been reluctant to come together or to approach the States to raise their concerns.
Deputy Van Katwyk said that it would help if the sector had a unified voice.
‘As with all industries and groups, it helps to have an organised and larger body of voices when dealing with government,’ he said.
‘While it would be great to kick-start a new association, my main focus is to hear first-hand from those in the industry as to their main concerns and then take it from there.’
He added that he was not alone in a belief that the island was under-utilising the blue economy as one of its best natural resources.
He said that since becoming industry lead five months ago, he had spoken to local experts on subjects as diverse as marine biology, developing Guernsey’s shipping registry, and attracting more sailing events.
‘We are surrounded by awe-inspiring seascapes and pristine waters teeming with wildlife,’ he said.
‘It’s time to turn a historically neglected economic driver into a high-performance engine.’
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