McMillan-Skate helps fish stocks

More boats are being forced to stay in port

A Euro MP campaigning to save Britain's fish stocks has asked people to call him McMillan-Skate rather then McMillan-Scott.

Conservative Edward McMillan-Skate, an MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside, has produced a five-language guide listing 40 species.

The fish cards were launched at the Tory conference in Bournemouh.

"My card says, 'Cherish fish or it will disappear' in the main EU languages." said Mr McMillan-Skate, whose Euro-constituency coastline stretches from Whitby to Grimsby.

Cod, a fish that has become an endangered species

He went on: "Skate is extinct in the North Sea - once the world's best fishing grounds - and cod is down by 50%."

The Common Fisheries Policy is undergoing a major overhaul in a bid to reverse a drastic decline in fish stocks which 20 years of conservation measures have failed to halt.

Now the Brussels Commission is seeking more swingeing cuts in fish catches and the laying up of boats in an attempt to get to grips with the crisis.

Mr McMillan-Skate's fish card is being despatched to all EU fisheries ministers, European Commissioners and Euro-MPs.

The Labour MP for Grimsby, Austin Mitchell, last week changed his name to "Haddock" to mark National Seafood Week.