UK fishing industry 'faces ruin because of EU quotas'

Daily Mail ^

[UKrepublican]

UK fishing industry 'faces ruin because of EU quotas'

The UK fishing industry is warning it faces ruin because thousands of tonnes of dead fish are being dumped back into the sea - because of EU quotas.

Fishing crews often catch large amounts of fish by accident after they have exceeded their quotas and they then have no option but to dump their catch.

They are now struggling to make a living and environmentalists say it is damaging hopes of sustainability.

Quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that each vessel can bring back to port. But there is no such limit on the amount of fish they actually catch.

Often, boats fishing in the "mixed fishery" of the North Sea catch a species or size of fish which is not what they were targeting.

Trawler skipper Phil Walsh told BBC News the quota for cod and other white fish he was allocated by Brussels this year was tiny.

By June he had landed all of the cod he was allowed.

Now he has been forced to fish for prawns and dumping prime whiting, haddock and cod, which would fetch as much as £13.50/kg on a supermarket shelf.

He said: "It's your livelihood and you spend your life trying to catch it and then you have to throw it back over the side. It's an impossible situation and, unless it is sorted out soon, we will all be finished."

Environmental groups have been warning about the dramatic decline of fish stocks in the North Sea.

They say quotas are essential to limit the amount of fish being caught - to ensure that spawning stocks are allowed to mature and to breed.

Many Scottish and English fishermen say they are seeing a huge increase in the number of cod in the North Sea this year - perhaps an indication that the quotas of recent years have worked.

They want an increase in the quota level for cod and other white fish they catch.

But environmentalists say that, although cod stocks are recovering, now is not the time to increase the amount of fish being caught.

[UKrepublican]

UK Ping list - if you would like on or off, freepmail me.

[UKrepublican]

Here’s a thought - lets get rid of these foreign boats and reclaim our territory.

If they want to buy our fish then fair enough.

Ultimately we might not have an empire anymore but when it comes to the sea britannia rules the waves! (sort of)

[Lil'freeper]

Here’s a thought - lets get rid of these foreign boats and reclaim our territory.

Sounds very SNP-ish. :P

[Red Badger]

We have a similar problem here..............

[Waco]

When you have caught all you’re allowed and don’t want anymore, you pull your nets out of the water!

[UKrepublican]

lol

oh no, we still get to keep their beloved oil, and they still get their social security benefits from our tax money.:P

[chainsaw]

Globalism is alive and well. If it’s good for America it should be good for UK also.

[TheBattman]

That’s what I was thinking... And while I am generally quite skeptical of environmental regulations, what do these fishermen want? Where will their precious fisheries and jobs (income) be when they fish them to the point of there being not enough fish to harvest?

[szweig]

“Tiny Fish For Japan” by Stan Rogers

Where Patterson Creek’s muddy waters run down
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
Like they never will leave there again.

But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
For a few more years yet they will work while they can
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

No white fish or trout here, we leave them alone.
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
What kind of fisherman can’t eat his catch
Or call what he’s taken his own?

But the plant works three shifts now. There’s plenty of pay.
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
If we want to eat fish, then we’ll open a can,
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
No poisons with names that we can’t understand
And no tiny fish for Japan...

So the days run together. Each one is the same.
And it’s good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
It’s all just a job now, we’ll work while we can,
To catch tiny fish for Japan.
And we’ll catch tiny fish for Japan

[szweig]

“Tiny Fish For Japan” by Stan Rogers

Where Patterson Creek’s muddy waters run down
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
Like they never will leave there again.

But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
For a few more years yet they will work while they can
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

No white fish or trout here, we leave them alone.
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
What kind of fisherman can’t eat his catch
Or call what he’s taken his own?

But the plant works three shifts now. There’s plenty of pay.
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
If we want to eat fish, then we’ll open a can,
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
No poisons with names that we can’t understand
And no tiny fish for Japan...

So the days run together. Each one is the same.
And it’s good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
It’s all just a job now, we’ll work while we can,
To catch tiny fish for Japan.
And we’ll catch tiny fish for Japan

[expatpat]

I thought it was already ruined. Isn’t Grimsby a ghost town nowadays?

[Vanders9]

We didnt do too well in the last cod war, as I recall.

[UKrepublican]

Well we can only try again....