Fishermen in south-west England are calling for the European Union to scrap the common fisheries policy (CFP).

Their calls come as the fisheries commission announced plans to tackle the dramatic drop in fish stocks.

The EU wants to cut the number of boats and offer incentives to fishermen to decommission their vessels.

But industry representatives in the South West say they will fight to save jobs.

'Take no prisoners'

Dave Pessel from the Plymouth Fishermen's Association, said: "All we want the commission to do is admit that the CFP has been an unmitigated disaster.

"That may be a negative view but we're not prepared to take any prisoners over it.

"We don't want to be in a position of waiting for something good to come out of a policy which has never worked.

"All the commission wants to do is keep reducing national fleets until they have a European fleet under their control.

Barry Deas calls the plans "brutal and dictatorial"

Mr Pessel believes that fishing in the South West is in crisis and the new reforms will lead to more problems for the region.

He said: "These new proposals will have an adverse effect on jobs.

"Two-thirds of the fish in European waters are, in fact, in British waters so this should be a vibrant industry.

"Instead we've seen job losses and many of the boats in the south-west are over 20 years old, which has major safety implications.

"Fish stocks are low and there has been a certain amount of over-fishing, but the EU has been in charge of fishing for 25 years.

"The only way things will change is if each country accepts responsibility for stocks in their waters."

'Brutal'

It has been estimated that the latest reforms package could cost around 30,000 jobs across Europe.

One of the proposals involves encouraging fishermen to decommission their boats by using the CFP budget to help them find other employment.

The National Federation of Fishermen's Associations has given a guarded welcome to the plans.

Chief executive Barry Deas said: "The proposals are a mixed bag.

"What is of most concern is that the commission proposes to cut days at sea.

"That will force many vessels into insolvency which seems to us a very dictatorial and brutal way to achieve their goals.

"I think radical measures are required but not necessarily brutal ones."