FISHERMEN have welcomed news the Government plans to allow them to keep more of their catch following Brexit.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove yesterday announced the Government intended to end the dominance of foreign trawlers in UK waters following our exit from the European Union.

Leigh Fisherman Paul Gilson welcomed the news.

Mr Gilson, who earlier this year met with fisheries minister George Eustace along with Southend West MP Sir David Amess amid protests over the issue, said: “If they stick to their promises and give us more quotas so we can run our own fisheries instead of discarding good quality fish then I’m optimistic.

“One of the things we have to be careful of is to never tell the opposition your negotiating position.

“You don’t show your cards. We never know what’s going on behind the scenes.”

Mr Gilson added: “Our fisheries have to be managed based on science not on any particular group like the Greens or political groups.

“It’s got to be done properly and I think in the last 20 years it has not. We have got to have people who know and understand our fisheries. We don’t want rules just for the sake of them.

“When rules are made they must be enforced. I’ve seen undersized fish being openly sold in Belgium. We have to have a level playing field.”

The Brexit blueprint could see the existing system of EU quotas torn up, allowing British trawlers to catch more fish.

Controversial EU rules that force fishermen to throw back dead fish if they are over quota also look set to be scrapped.

Mr Gove said the UK would be in the “driving seat” in quota negotiations once the UK leaves the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy but would not commit to a specific figure.

At the moment, quotas are assigned to each country, with limits on species.

It was previously reported the Government might be about to use UK fisheries as a bargaining chip, with the fishing industry fearful too many concessions would be made at their expense.