Tag Archives: Common Fisheries Policy
British fishermen tired of taking ‘scraps’ from Brussels are counting down the days to Brexit
They still like a Canadian down in Cornwall. The fishermen here all remember flying the Maple Leaf on their boats in solidarity back in 1995, when Canada and Spain went to battle on the high seas in the Turbot War. Back then, anyone taking on European Union boats accused of overfishing, especially Spanish boats, could count on the support of not just Cornish fishermen, but of the entire British fishing fleet. Canada accused Spanish boats of overfishing turbot using outlawed nets and actually fired shots across the bow of a Spanish trawler called the Estai in international waters off the coast of Newfoundland. Mounties and Fisheries Department officers seized the boat and arrested its captain. >click to read< 14:33
The TRUTH about the multi-million pound fishing firms monopolising UK seas
As UKIP leader Nigel Farage leads a flotilla of UK fishermen up the Thames to protest unfair fishing quota allocation, it has been revealed that the fleet’s flagship trawler was caught up in the UK’s largest ever fraud involving illegal catches of fish: ‘the black fish’ scandal of 2009. The Christina S vessel is now partly owned by one of the richest fishing barons in the country, Andrew Marr, who was named in our recent investigation into the monopolisation of UK fishing rights. >click to read< 12:01
The understandable anger of British fishermen
When the fisheries-rich countries of the North Atlantic applied to join the EEC in the early 1970s, it was an opportunity for ministers in Brussels that was too good to miss. To the nervous embarrassment of the Dutch, a last minute deal was pushed through that bolted the resources of national fishing grounds onto the scanty treaty provisions that covered trade in fish produce. It was a shoddy fix and, it turned out, a major scandal at least for one of the applicant states. Norway’s fisheries minister resigned in protest, and the Norwegians voted against accession. But the UK did not. In 1973, the country joined the Brussels club. Ted Heath’s people accepted the stitch up as a political price worth paying – one of many, it might be said. And thus was created the original sin behind UK membership. >click to read<19:26
EU Trawlers Step Up ‘Pulse’ Fishing Efforts, Devastating British Fisheries Ahead of Brexit
European Union trawlers have been stepping up illegal ‘pulse fishing’ in British waters under a special EU derogation, inflicting “total devastation” on the North Sea. The controversial method of sees fishing vessels — mostly Dutch trawlers — drag electrodes across the seabed to zap sole and plaice off the floor. It is officially banned, but the European Commission — which controls the fisheries of EU member-states through the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) — granted a special derogation for it to be carried out on an “experimental” basis in British fishing grounds in the North Sea. >Video, click here to read< 12:45
‘Betrayal’! Fishermen warned UK waters could be used as ‘bargaining chips’ in Brexit talks
The British Government have insisted that once the UK leaves the European Union, Britain will leave the Common Fisheries Policy. Speaking in the House of Commons in PMQs the Prime Minister confirmed the UK will be leaving the policy after Brexit, but did not make clear what would happen during the planned two-year implementation period. Ukip Fisheries Spokesman, Mike Hookem has criticised the Prime Minister, claiming Mrs May is using UK fishing grounds as “bargaining chips”. “The Prime Minister’s betrayal will devastate people in fishing communities up and down the country who have put their trust in her to deliver the Brexit they voted for. video, click here to read the story 11:46
UK fishermen see Brexit bonanza, but there’s a catch
Newlyn – For the fishermen of this small port on the toe of England, Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was an answer to their prayers. After 45 years chafing under what they saw as unfair quotas in one of the world’s richest fishing grounds, the UK government would finally, in the lexicon of Brexiteers, “take back control” of British waters. But what Brexit gives with one hand, it can also take away. European fishermen want Brussels to use its trump card – continued access to the essential EU market – in negotiations on how to divvy up the seas. click here to read the story 12:15
Theresa May warned over handing UK fishing waters to Brussels
Despite failing to capture a Commons majority, the Prime Minister has insisted she will stick to the schedule and get the Brexit talks underway despite pressure from inside her own party to resign.
Ukip MEP Bill Etheridge forewarned Mrs May about using Britain’s fishing waters as a bargaining chip, with the possibility of them being handed back to Brussels in exchange for other concessions. The Brexiteer described the potential move as the “ultimate betrayal” by Mrs May and her Conservative minority government. He said: “It would be a huge betrayal and quite frankly the second time the Conservatives have betrayed our fishing fleets. Video, click here to read the story 11:23
Brexit Allows Us To Solve This Haddock Conservation Problem By Leaving The CFP
It would be terribly wrong to compare the European Union to any of the mid-20th century unpleasantnesses in Europe like fascism and the rise of the Nazis but it is true that that peaceful economic arrangement has managed something that total war did not, the rationing of fish and chips in Britain. For it is actually true that said fish and chips never was rationed. Even when the Kreigsmarine was trying to sink everything larger than a canoe which issued from Britain’s ports we still had that haddock, cod and plaice. Give it 45 years of that ever closer European union and the bureaucratic management of the Common Fisheries Policy and we’re being told that we must indeed ration our consumption:,,, It’s all there in Garret Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons. Where there’s an open access, what Hardin calls Marxian, resource, then that is just fine. If the regeneration capacity is greater than the annual demand, then all who want can have simply by taking. (See where this is going?) continue reading the article here 14:50
Fishermen’s federations adopt united stance on Brexit
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation
(SFF) and the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) agreed the key outcomes they want from negotiations to leave the EU at a recent meeting in Edinburgh. The organisations say fishermen across the UK have welcomed Brexit as an opportunity to secure significant economic benefit for coastal communities once the UK regains control of its 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). At the meeting it was agreed they would seek fairer shares of catching opportunity for UK vessels and full control over access to the UK EEZ by fishing fleets. They also want to see the creation of a “fit-for-purpose” management and regulation system, including a grass roots revision of fisheries management based on “sustainable harvesting and sound science.” The federations are calling for the establishment of mutually beneficial trading relationships with the EU and other countries. They also agreed that there must be no roll-over of the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and that negotiations regarding fisheries should not be entangled with non-fisheries issues. And they insist negotiations must benefit all sectors of the fishing industry, including inshore and offshore fleets, fish and shellfish. Read the rest here 09:52
The ‘great Brexit betrayal’! PM’s plan to adopt EU laws blasted by furious fishermen
Ahead of the Conservative Party conference last week, Theresa May set out her proposal for a Great Repeal Bill to end the supremacy of Brussels’ law over UK legislation on the day Britain leaves the EU. But, despite returning lawmaking sovereignty to Westminster, the Bill will also convert existing EU law into domestic law in a bid to ensure continuity. Fishing For Leave have voiced their anger at the Prime Minister’s approach to overturning Brussels’ rule, fearing it could mean British fishermen will still be subject to the “disastrous” EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) even outside the bloc. The group have declared the Great Repeal Bill should be of “dire concern” and will represent an “unacceptable sell out of Brexit”. Video, read the story here 11:46
Fisherman upbeat after EU vote opens door for leaving institution
Leave-supporting fishermen have spoken of their delight and positivity after Britons voted to leave the EU. Gary Smith is skipper of the whitefish trawler Devotion. From a fishing point of view he said it was the right decision and is positive about the industry. “The common fisheries policy has been terrible for fishing, forcing British men to dump fish while huge foreign vessels plunder the stocks,” he said. He admitted UK fishermen were not entirely blameless, having largely taken the law into their own hands with black landings (the landing of over quota fish) in the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as the mass dumping of good fish back to the sea. “But with a governing body so far removed from reality I feel we had no option, these immoral and illegal acts were done totally unwillingly for survival. “I believe now more than ever before we need to unite as one voice, everyone agrees that fisheries science is at best a two-year-late guess. That is simply not good enough. Read the rest here 15:28
Bertie Armstrong: ending EU fisheries policy a good decision
From the article: Of course, the European Union, and the much-derided Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) are at the very heart of that, which is why so many fishermen are implacably opposed to both. This is hardly surprising and it is worth reminding ourselves why fishing takes a unique position in Europe, making it so different from other industry sectors. Sovereignty and jurisdiction (beyond each member state’s slim strip of territorial waters) is pooled and the EU uses the CFP to govern every aspect of the industry. That fundamental change – the trading of sovereignty for collective control – took place when we joined. Collaboration is vital under any governance regime, but non-EU coastal states such as Norway and Iceland retain jurisdiction and negotiate on their own behalf. Read the op-ed here 10:56
Peterhead: Scottish fishermen see benefits of cutting free from EU’s net
At 7.30am on a fresh weekday in northeast Scotland, Peterhead fish market is in full swing. Agents representing local fishermen reel off latest prices for haddock, hake and halibut at the top of their voices, like gruff bingo callers. Buyers, wrapped up in heavy coats, cast a critical eye over plastic boxes filled with catch fresh from the vast North Sea. Peterhead is Europe’s largest fish market. After many difficult years, business is slowly improving. The buyers’ stubbed pens recorded sales of £180 million last year, and plans are afoot for a £49 million (€62 million) expansion of the sprawling port funded, in part, by European Union grants. But there is little love for the EU among Peterhead’s fishermen, many of whom blame Brussels for imposing inflexible regulations and failing to protect their industry from foreign fleets. Read the rest here 21:41
Salt in their veins and fire in their bellies: fishermen battling for Brexit
William Whyte has a new flag flying from the rigging of his vast blue-hulled trawler, its fabric snapping in the brisk breeze coming in off the North Sea. It features the cartoon of a militant-looking fish wearing armour, a union jack shield at its waist and the legend “Fishing for Leave”. These flags are appearing on boats around Britain’s coast. The country’s trawlermen are placing themselves in the vanguard of the campaign to quit the EU. There is talk of a flotilla massing on the Thames, as the country’s fishing fleets press the case for Brexit. For Scottish trawlermen such as Whyte, the EU referendum is a godsend. Striding over long, brightly coloured coils of rope, netting and sun-bleached floats laid out on the quayside at Fraserburgh, north of Aberdeen, Whyte hopes the UK will vote to leave the EU, finally releasing his industry from the constraints, the wheeling and dealing, and complexities of the common fisheries policy (CFP). Read the rest here 07:54
Fishing minister George Eustice – Scotland will have more control of fleet outside the EU
A UK Government minister claimed yesterday that Scotland will have more control over its fishing fleet if voters choose to quit the EU. Fishing Minister George Eustice was speaking on the eve of a visit to Peterhead, where he will talk to skippers as part of his campaign for a Brexit in June. Mr Eustice’s Leave message is sure to resonate strongly with many people in an industry which has always been deeply suspicious of Brussels, and suffered swinging cuts to quotas and fishing time under the controversial Common Fisheries Policy. Read the rest, Click here 11:40
Creelers and divers join European crew for more power
Scottish shellfish creelers and divers have joined a pan-European coalition to push for “fairer representation” for the inshore fleet. The move sees nine fishermen’s associations from across Scotland under the umbrella of the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation (SCFF) bolster the clout of small-scale fisheries at European level. It also sees the membership of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (Life) mushroom to more than 4,000 active fishers. The coalition works to promote the interests of its members by pushing for the proper implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy to grant priority access to fishers who have the least impact on the environment and add the most value to local fishing activities. Read the rest here 12:51
‘Criminalising fishermen is one of the most appalling things any Government or body could do to its own people.’
THE criminalisation of fishermen who are simply trying to make a living has got to stop, according to Cllr Michael Collins. The independent councillor tabled a motion calling on the Minister for the Marine, Simon Coveney, to change the laws that are currently being challenged in the High Court. Speaking at Monday’s meeting of the Western Committee of Cork County Council, Cllr Collins pointed out that two brothers – the owner and the skipper of the Tea Rose trawler that operates out of Castletownbere – are in the process of testing the legality of the Domestic Points Regulations system, which was introduced under the Common Fisheries Policy. Read the rest here 18:17
Cherry-picking the facts undermines green groups
What is it with some environmental groups and their appetite to be selective with the facts and not present a true reflection of our fisheries? The Pew Foundation and New Economics Foundation (NEF) appear to be in a league of their own in this department as is so vividly reflected by their two most recent reports. Pew in its ‘Turning the Tide’ report stated that in many cases the EU’s Atlantic nations set fishing limits ‘contrary’ to recent reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and continue to ‘overfish’ for many species. Meanwhile, NEF claimed that many stocks were fished beyond scientific advice and thus endangering fish stocks. Read the rest here 17:20
Fishy EU goes fishing at Britain’s expense
The UK’s fishing industry is central to our national identity, and puts food on the table for millions. But Brussels wants to destroy it, and is doing a good job of doing so. The number of British fishermen has fallen by a quarter in the last two decades. Behind the scenes is the EU’s long-running (and much hated) Common Fisheries Policy which lays down the law for small time fishermen and huge trawlers alike, though the rules Read the rest here 07:50
Deep sea fish quotas cut for two years in the Northeast Atlantic
The EU Commission proposed today an overall cut in quotas for deep sea fishing in the northeast Atlantic for the next two years. However, environmental groups said it should have reduced some catch limits to zero to allow stocks to recover. Some are calling on the European Union to ban deep sea fishing altogether,,, Read the rest here 11:52
