Fishermen from Ramsgate have criticised Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan, expressing concerns it will allow the Dutch to bring back pulse fishing. Brexit Party MEP June Mummery warned the type of fishing, which fires a charge down to the seabed and tasers fish, is an “environmental emergency”. In a video posted to her Twitter page, the Brexit Party MEP began: “So I’m here in Ramsgate just listening to just how devastating the pulse fishing has been to this town and to this coastal area. Absolutely horrendous.”

Former fisherman Martin Jackson said: “Pulse fishing is electric pulse beaming where a charge is fired down onto the seabed, fixed to a trawl and this tasers fish. It stuns them and they drop back into the net.

“DEFRA commissioned a survey by CEFAS to find out what was happening on the seabed. And as far as we know, the results of the survey were so damning, DEFRA has not released the results.”

John Nichols, chairman of Thanet Fisherman’s Association, commented: “It has serious damaging effects on the ecosystem. We as fishermen here in Ramsgate believe it sterilises the ground as it goes along.

“We believe that it kills all the small fish, the very, very small fish. It breaks the backbones of the small sole and small cod, anything that lives on the seabed, and it kills them.

“It is an extremely effective method of catching fish, it saves a lot of money on the fuel, they’re probably burning a third of the fuel they were burning in the past.

“They’re towing a lot lighter gear. The damage that the actual pulse fishing does is a lot more extensive, but it’s out of sight, out of mind.

“You can see the fuel going into a boat, and you can appreciate that it’s a lot less fuel going in, but what it’s doing to the environment and the seabed because it’s on the seabed ad you can’t see what’s happening, that’s the damaging factor.”

The Brexit Party MEP then urged Boris Johnson to not allow the Dutch to bring back this type of fishing. Ms Mummery said: “So we’ve heard from John and Martin just how bad pulse fishing is, and like I’ve said before, if Boris Johnson puts through the WA4, that will give the EU a chance to let the Dutch start this barbaric type of fishing yet again.

“They’ve already decimated our coastlines, we do not want that back, so let’s keep on to Boris about this. Let’s make sure he does not do the dirty and put that through.”

Her tweet was also captioned: “This is a real environmental emergency that is being ignored!” One Twitter user commented: “This, as June says, is the real environmental emergency.”

Another added: “Our fishing stocks are being plundered by regulations that lean towards other countries within the EU.” A third tweeted: “The fishing industry is dying in front of our eyes!! When are you going to do something Boris Johnson?”

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Meanwhile, Angela Merkel said during a phone call with Boris Johnson yesterday that unless Northern Ireland was left behind in a customs union then a deal is “overwhelmingly unlikely”, according to a briefing from Number 10 sources.

Downing Street said it was clear that the EU had adopted a new stance on Brexit. A Downing Street source said: “The call with Merkel showed the EU has adopted a new position. She made clear a deal is overwhelmingly unlikely and she thinks the EU has a veto on us leaving the customs union.

“Merkel said that if Germany wanted to leave the EU they could do it no problem but the UK cannot leave without leaving Northern Ireland behind in the customs union and in full alignment forever.”

On Tuesday night, Downing Street said the EU now had 24 hours to find a compromise, otherwise, the negotiations between Mr Johnson and the EU would collapse for good.

The European Parliament President David Sassoli also met with the Prime Minister on Tuesday and said the UK had two options: “extension or no deal”.

He also said that there had been no negotiations and that if the UK opted to leave the EU without a deal, then the responsibility would fall on the Government. He added that extended the Brexit deal could only be granted with a “good reason”.

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