A STATE of emergency was declared by Britain’s skippers and environmentalists today who say that industrial trawling has devasted fishing communities on the Channel and southern North Sea coasts.

Skippers in small-boat — less than 30 metres in length — fishing fleets and campaign group Greenpeace have called for government action to stop industrial-scale fishing.

They say that giant trawlers are “leaving some local fishers with nothing left to catch.”

Greenpeace is now being prosecuted by the government’s Marine Agency for its recent dropping of boulders in Britain’s protected marine areas, which were intended to stop the destructive activities of super trawlers. It says the government is taking no action against industrial fishing.

Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner Chris Thorne said: “We’ve been at sea all summer, bearing witness to the destruction taking place in the Channel and nearby waters.

“We’ve worked closely with local fishers, and when you’re on the water with them, it’s very clear: our fishing communities are at breaking point. 

“They won’t survive much longer without urgent action from the government.”

The Department for Food & Rural Affairs said that now Britain has left the EU, the Marine Management Organisation is consulting on extra safeguards for marine protected areas.