BLACK Country Euro MP Liz Lynne is backing the growing Fish Fight campaign to change EU laws which mean thousands of tonnes of fish are thrown back dead into the sea.

Ms Lynne, Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands, joined top chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at the launch of the European Fish Fight Campaign in front of the European Parliament in Brussels to highlight the fact that 696,898 EU citizens have now signed an international petition demanding an end to the shocking waste of fish that discarding involves.

There has, however, been strong opposition to change from southern European fishing nations such as Spain.

But Ms Lynne said hopes were high that the Fish Fight, started by Hugh and backed by other leading chefs and Lib Dem MEPs, would help to change the Common Fisheries Policy so the quota system designed to protect dwindling fish stocks can be modified to end the discarding of fish caught as by-catch by trawlermen fishing for other species.

The MEP said: "The crazy way the Fisheries Policy works in practice is a classic example of how well intentioned laws can have ridiculous consequences if they are not thought through.

"We need to regulate the fishing industry but the crude quota system with 'discards' of so much perfectly good fish has been a disaster.

"Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall deserves credit for his campaign to highlight this scandal and galvanise the campaign to change.

"Fishermen should be allowed to land all the fish they catch, while still having agreed rules to limit total catches, protect fish stocks and local fishing grounds."

Fish stocks in European waters have seen a huge decline over the past century, largely because massive catches by trawlermen - and subsequent discards - means the fish are dead before they have had chance to breed.

Hugh's Fish Fight has seen British MEPs generally united across party lines, but reformers were outvoted two to one in a recent vote in the European Parliament, which is partly why the campaign was taken to Brussells on Tuesday (May 31).

Hagley fish and chip shop boss Gregg Howard, owner of Our Plaice and the new president of The National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF), is also backing the Fish Fight which got underway after a TV series presented by Hugh aired on Channel 4 in January.

Stourbridge MP Margot James, who has been contacted by a number of concerned constituents since the programmes were broadcast, is also supporting the campaign and said: “This environmentally and economically wasteful practice should end.”

She said the Government was pressing for reforms of the Common Fisheries Policy to give fishermen more control, incentives and responsibility for managing fish stocks and helping to reduce the number of discards.

The Conservative MP added: "It is such a difficult issue because regulating the number of fish caught is necessary to preserve some fish species, but actually carrying out this regulation in practice can be extremely difficult for fishermen.

“I hope it will be possible to move to a more flexible system to reduce the number of discarded fish."

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