LYME fishermen were keen to learn their fate at a public meeting about proposals to designate conservation areas off the Dorset coast.

Natural England held the meeting in Lyme Regis to consult on plans to designate certain areas in Lyme Bay as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) to protect rare habitats and species.

Some fishermen boycotted what they said was a ‘pointless’ meeting at the Marine Theatre on Monday because they believed the decision had already been made.

But other worried sea users were eager to find out how the move might affect them.

Natural England’s marine advisor Louisa Knights said: “It’s an opportunity for all the stakeholders to see the proposals and ask questions.

“It’s not a done deal, this is a consultation and that is one of the reasons we are having the meeting, to encourage people to feed into the consultation. But it’s their decision if they don’t want to come.”

Harry May, who operates two deep sea and mackerel fishing boats out of Lyme, said: “I’m interested to see what’s going on and if the plans affect me.

“I don’t think they will, but you never know quite what the powers that be have plans for a few years down the line. They might bring in rules that will stop my kind of fishing, but I don’t think they will at the moment.”

The plans come just over a year after the Government closed around 60 square miles of the bay to scallop dredging and trawling, and it is those fishermen who it is feared will suffer the most.

But Natural England said introducing the SACs would help repair the reefs damaged by trawling and dredging.

Static fisherman Angus Walker believes it is too early to tell if the original closure in 2008 has had any impact.

“I had hoped what they had implemented to start with would remain until they had time to make a proper assessment if it was working,” he said. “It’s probably going to give us more sleepless nights.”

Martyn White, from Seaton, is backing the proposals. He said: “I would like to see the fish numbers back to how it was 30 or 40 years ago.

“I wouldn’t want to see the fishermen going out of business, especially the local guys, but I think it has been handled very carefully and with them in mind as well.”

A retired static fisherman, who did not wish to be named, is eager to see the seabed in better condition but said imposing more restrictions would cause problems between fishermen.

He said: “It will increase the amount of towed activity outside the box because they will all try and fish as close to the box as they can.

“The moment any static boys move outside the box they are at risk. You will get conflict between the towed gear and static boys.”

The consultation ends on February 26. Take part by emailing your views to swmarine@naturalengland.org.uk or call 0300 060 1110.