Boris Johnson ‘has got no answers’ says Starmer

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June Mummery lashed out at the Prime Minister for selling out the UK’s fishing industry by allowing EU fishing boats to carry on plundering British seas. She warned the PM would suffer at the ballot box in coastal seats at the next General Election.

Ms Mummery, a member of the Lowestoft Fish Market Alliance, told Express.co.uk: “Brexit was a golden opportunity to take back control of our waters and resources. A majority of people that voted to leave the EU wanted that.

“We didn’t vote to be sacrificed. The deal negotiated by Boris and David Frost was a massive betrayal beyond belief. That tells me coastal communities are not important to parliament, the Tory party or Labour.

“Labour should be all over this. They should be banging the drum for coastal communities.

“We were sold out. Boris had it in his hands. Look what he could have done.”

Environment Secretary George Eustice said in November the UK licensed 98 percent of the EU vessels that applied for access to UK waters.

The Government issued licences to 1,673 EU vessels to fish in its exclusive economic zone.

This includes 736 French vessels with 121 licensed to fish in the UK’s six to 12 nautical mile zone. A total of 103 of these boats are French.

Ms Mummery said supertrawlers – huge vessels which can stay at sea for weeks – were decimating UK fish stocks.

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The former Tory supporter said: “What we need is boats no bigger than 25 metres with 500 to 600 horse power.

“We want a sustainable fishery in our waters, creating jobs for local people while protecting our ocean and mother nature.

“Big vessels have hammered our waters, wiping stocks out.

“Government bangs on about the environment, but our own ocean is in jeopardy and no one is saying a word. There will be no fishing industry left in five years.”

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Ms Mummery added that if a trade war broke out between the UK and EU over trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, then one of the first actions Britain should take is to order EU boats out of British waters.

She also called for the reinstatement of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Merchant Shipping Act, which would prohibit EU companies from registering some vessels under a UK “flag of convenience”.

The founder of Renaissance of East Anglian Fisheries explained that foreign owned vessels would then be forced to land, process and sell their catches in the UK as well as paying tax.

She said: “We need to reinstate that Act.”

Defra has been contacted for comment.

Ms Mummery’s comments come a day after fishing crews staged a protest near a site they believe is killing marine life and “decimating” their livelihoods by creating a “dead zone” in the North Sea.

Boats from Scarborough, Whitby, Redcar and Hartlepool sailed to South Gare, near the mouth of the River Tees, to demand a fresh investigation into the mass deaths of crabs and lobsters in the area.

About 30 vessels let off flares and displayed banners during the protest on Thursday, May 19, while more demonstrators gathered on land.

A Government investigation had concluded a harmful algal bloom was the most likely cause of the mass deaths of crustaceans in October. Large numbers of crabs and lobsters washed up on the region’s beaches.

But fisherman have rejected the theory and say they believe blame lies with 250,000 tonnes of dredged sediment in the River Tees.

Campaigners claim the sediment was dredged and dumped two-and-a-half miles offshore by the vessel UKD ORCA last year.

They claim a subsequent lobster and crab die-off is currently happening and coincides with dredging at this same location.

James Cole, of the Whitby Commercial Fishing Association, said: “Defra are saying it’s an algal bloom but it’s still reoccurring, and Government agencies have just closed the book on it.

“We want them to properly investigate to get to the bottom of this because from November last year we’re just on a downward spiral, we’ve had a terrible winter.

“The price of fuel’s gone through the roof, lobster prices have crashed, we can’t afford to go on like this.

“Our environment’s getting damaged and we want some truth.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “We are monitoring recent wash-ups at South Gare and the Tees area. Small scale wash-ups can occur naturally due to seasonality and weather conditions and we are working closely with partner agencies to support the monitoring and recovery of stocks.

“We note that there are reports of poor catches and we are working with the industry and partner agencies to monitor this and are communicating regularly with the fishing community.”

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