Greenpeace joins forces with South West fishermen

The fishing industry and Greenpeace are unlikely bed fellows but the two are joining forces to call for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. 'Be a Fisherman's Friend' is a new Greenpeace campaign to promote sustainable fishing and give small scale fishermen a bigger share of fishing quotas.

Greenpeace launched it's South West campaign at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth last night. It's working alongside the Under 10's Fisherman's Association, that's those with boats under 10 metres long. Most are family owned vessels which support single fishermen, many of which fear they could be forced out of business by quota rules.

Greenpeace says that makes no sense at all when the small scale operators do much less damage to the environment. It'll use it's new campaign to lobby EU governments as changes to the Common Fisheries Policy are being debated. It argues that by supporting small scale fishermen the industry can be much more sustainable long term .