Belgian fishermen subjected to « unseen » British checks, Minister Crevits is displeased: « The shock is really in it »
Theme image. – © Peter Hilz
Five Belgian fishing boats have been strictly controlled by the British authorities last week. The economic damage is great. Minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V) ties heavily to the facts.
Source: Belga
Today at 1:02 PM
The checks took place last Tuesday and Friday. Five Belgian boats were checked on the high seas via a coordinated action by the British authorities. Especially the way the fishermen is high. Their spacious was sealed, the skippers placed under arrest and they were obliged to sail to a British port. The hard drives of the vessels were seized there. Why is still not clear.
The crew is still very impressed. « I have never experienced this in fifteen years of sailing, » says Monday at the Kade in Zeebrugge. Explanation about why the ships were controlled so strictly did not come. « We were told that we had to come for further research, more was not said, » says Kapitein Clancy Snauwaert.
Snauwaert was at the helm of the Z-26 when the ship in the canal of Bristol in British waters, on 37 nautical miles of the coast, was checked by the British Marine Management Organization (MMO) on Tuesday. Checks often happen, but the agreement is that it happens with as little inconvenience as possible for the fishermen. That was different on Tuesday. « We were obliged to sail to the port of Newlyn, a journey of eight hours. Our hard drive was seized there. Without we cannot fish with a regulatory fishing. We could only sail back to Zeebrugge. The economic damage is great. Only count 40,000 euros, » says the captain.
Fish quota
Competent Minister Crevits, who went to Zeebrugge on Monday for a conversation with the crews, speaks of an « unseen and assertive » approach by the British authorities, with very serious economic consequences. « Controls are no problem for us. But the way in which the check happened last week is unseen. We still don’t know what the fishermen has been charged. The shock is really in them, » said Crevits.
She says she is particularly heavily lifted to the facts, and is going to raise the case with the British authorities, but also at the European Commission. « Our fleet is small and vulnerable. This must be exposed. »
The minister does not want to speak out about why the British authorities suddenly check so strictly. She does, however, point out that just now negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union about the fish quota: who can catch what and how much.
