A campaigning weekly newspaper has a bid to get a fairer deal for struggling fishermen in the seaside town.

The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, together with its Rye Observer sister paper, has started a Fairer Deal for Fishermen drive to cut red tape.

They say ‘ridiculous quotas’ mean local fishermen are being forced to throw back tonnes of dead fish into the sea to avoid prosecution by the Government.

Readers are now being urged to fill in their details on a cut-out fish petition printed in the papers, which will then be taken to Downing Street by a delegation.

Observer editor Keith Ridley said: “The fishing community here and in nearby Rye are so important. Not only do they bring in business and tourists but they are a key part in the identity of both towns.

“At the moment they are being strangled by ridiculous quotas which mean many fishermen are having to think long and hard over whether or not they continue in the industry.

“We managed to get 3,000 people to sign our Save Our Pier petition – and it helped convince the local council to act. Hopefully we can do the same with the fishing.”

The paper says 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.

Chief reporter Richard Morris, who is organising the campaign, said there had already been a strong response from readers.

He said: “We are planning a lot of follow up stories and have some very visual ideas – including photographing a pile of the dead fish our fishermen are forced to throw back each day.

“We have been given backing from our local MP and when we have enough cut out fish we will take them to Downing Street.”