A campaign launched by a south coast weekly newspaper to get a fairer deal for struggling fishermen has received backing by MPs.

Johnston Press title the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, together with its Rye Observer sister paper, started a Fairer Deal for Fishermen drive in February with the aim of cutting red tape.

They have since received the backing of 6,000 readers who have filled out a fish coupon from the paper in support of the campaign to demand a larger share of the catch for boats under 10-metres. Under current restriction, boats under 10m are entitled to just 3pc of the overall catch, despite making up more than three-quarters of the country’s total fleet.

Fishermen in the seaside town were forced to throw tonnes of dead fish back into the sea to avoid prosecution by the Government that set out guidelines with strict quotas.

The 6,000 cut out fish coupons were dumped on David Cameron’s doorstep as a representation of the fish being dumped on the coastline each day.

As a result a committee of Mps published a hard-hitting report recommending that quota should only be held by working fishermen unless the holding of quota by outside interests can be shown to be of clear benefit to fishing communities. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is now gathering evidence as part of an inquiry into the way domestic fishing is managed.

Chief reporter Richard Morris said:  “The fight certainly isn’t over, and a lot of what is being proposed is only at the very early stages, but at least the powers-that-be seem to be listening.

“We had one 12-year-old reader who made a giant model fish and stood on her street for a weekend getting people to sign it. She missed our trip to London so sent it herself and this week received a letter back from David Cameron.”

He added that there had been talk of extra grants coming to the town’s fleet as well as top chefs and food suppliers visiting Hastings to taste test some of the less common fish there. Some of the extra cash has also been provisionally earmarked for a herring smokery.