A fleet of trawlers dredging for seed mussels off the east Kent coast could threaten the future of the last full-time fisherman working off Deal beach.

Dave Lawrence, 58, has been in business for 45 years and has three boats moored almost opposite Deal Castle.

After watching the fleet close to the pier with utter dismay last weekend he said: "I am fearing the worst.

"The trawlers are after seed mussels and are ripping our seabed up. They are doing damage all the time and more than my three boats could ever do in 100 years. They are doing us no favours whatsoever.

"They started at Sandwich Bay and have been working about two miles off coast. Now they have wiped the area doing damage all the time and they will probably move on.

"But those seed mussels are the first in the food chain for our fish to start feeding on and now I am expecting a drop in the spring fishing. I am dreading it."