Charity offering help to fishing community

Financial pressures, global warming and fishing restrictions are some of the issues affecting the fishing community in Jersey, a charity has said.

The Fishermen's Mission said it offered "practical help, community and faith-rooted care" for those in the industry who face financial and physical pressures".

Hayley Hamlett, from the charity, said its representatives visited Jersey twice a year to meet active or retired fishermen and their families.

She said one area they helped with was the cost of living: "We all hear so much about fuel rates being high but for fishermen it's fuel, it's bait, it's general expenses for any crew they may have."

Hamlett said global warming was "making a difference on the species that are coming into the waters" and restrictions could affect fishermen's catches.

She said: "Most fishing industries or fisheries are restricted on what they can catch, whether that be location or methods and those changes are not changing fast enough with the species changes.

"Therefore fishermen are struggling because they can't necessarily diversify or catch more of a certain species."

From September 2026 more than one fifth of the island's territorial waters will be designated as marine protected areas and off limits to trawling and dredging.

Jersey's Fishing Association said that could make fishing "more dangerous".

Hamlett said the consequence of limited fishing areas could mean the importation of seafood to the island.

"I mean it's such a shame that here in Jersey - the waters are rich, it's just that quite a lot of the time they can't necessarily catch it and that's a shame," she said.

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