French Fishermen Fear For Their Fishing 'rights'

[twix123]

Makes you weep when you think about what has happened to the British fishing fleets and ports over the last 40 years !

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/12/brexit-could-boot-french-fishermen-out-of-british-waters/

(I apologise if this has already been discussed)

[Jackdaw33]

Quelle domage! Je pleure pour eux.

[Jackdaw33]

^^ dommage!

[Gromit]

UK boats will be barred from EU countries waters too, so the fishing industry might lose more than it gains.

// // The UK has only 13 per cent of the EU’s total sea area, but is allocated 30pc of the total quota and our trawlers fish in Irish, German, French and Dutch waters with catches worth about £100m a year.
66% of UK seafood exports go to EU countries and that seven out of the top ten countries that Britain exports to are in the EU. //

Quotas are set based on scientific evidence. We have to keep them otherwise over fishing will occur and there will be no fish to catch.

[dannyk13]

Using your crystal ball again Gromit?

[Old_Geezer]

Fair enough. We get to hunt/farm our own patch (and I assume any international waters). Less far to go, and our own responsibility if we don't manage the resource.

[Gromit]

^ No.
If you have a counter arguement feel free to post it, that is how this site works. Petty jibes add nothing.

[Gromit]

Sorry that was to dannyk not OG.

[Old_Geezer]

"French boats are currently allowed to fish up to six nautical miles from the British coast but EU laws prevent British vessels from fishing within 12 miles of the French coast."

Good Lord ! why the lack of equal access ?

"About 80 per cent of France’s fishing boats never leave French territorial waters, but the remaining 20 per cent, which are larger vessels, bring in up to two-thirds of the national catch."

We'll that should sort out worries about overfishing, but maybe we could catch a few more and sell our resource to the French ? Or perhaps we could lease out fishing quotas in our waters to the French, for a price.

[dannyk13]

Gromit
Not a petty jibe, just an observation that you seem to always know what WILL happen not what MIGHT happen.

[Old_Geezer]

...Why...

...Well...

[Old_Geezer]

In fairness Gromit wrote "might". Shall we move on ?

[Gromit]

DannyK: I wrote
// so the fishing industry MIGHT lose more than it gains. //

If we over-fish, stocks WILL decrease. That is patently obvious, no crystal ball needed.

[Togo]

The UK's fishing waters are some of the richest in fish stock, and variety in the world. The Spanish have fished out their own waters and have had to rely on taking our fish for 30 years. Grompit does favour the gloomy view and once again quotes a set of "facts" with no sensible verification. If our fishing waters, and future revival of the fleets we once had, are such a poor exchange for the right to fish German (yes he said German fishing waters) or French or Italian Or Greek, etc. etc. why are the Spanish and French fishermen so concerned? Perhaps they know the truth and are not afraid to spell it out. We have nothing to fear, but fear itself. Don't listen to the negative gloom mongers.

[dannyk13]

Gromit
///UK boats will be barred from EU countries waters too///
This was the part of your post I was referring to.

[Gromit]

Dannyk
Unless we join the EEA or something similar, we will only be able to fish in International waters and our own, unless you know different.

[dannyk13]

That is the point I am trying to make, at the moment everything to do with the EU is pure speculation

[DTCwordfan]

they'll have to deplete the patrol boats in Gib and the Falklands and bring them back to cover UK waters - and build more.....leaving Gib and the Falklands open to those of Spanish persuasion to try....

[Old_Geezer]

Or it is an incentive to invest it the military we need ?

[Gromit]

The UK Government is responsible for who can fish our quota. They say who can and can't fish here. It is they who are are resposible for fishing communities dying because they favour large industrial boats over small trawler.
Take the case of the Cornelis Vrolijk. It operates out of Hull under a British flag. The British Government (not the EU) have allocated it 23% of the total British quota, while small boats get a fraction or none of the quota. It is a Dutch owned vessel, and lands its catch in Holland. The are large British owned boats, who fish on an industrial scale and get the lions share of the rest. It is the Government who are putting small boat owners out of business, not the EU.

Interesting Greenpeace article here
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/government-answer-legal-challenge-over-‘unfair’-uk-fishing-quota-20150424

[Old_Geezer]

Given that what was the outcome of the judicial review ? And was it ever clear why the government felt keeping the lion's share with the 'big boys', and mainly foreign ones at that, was the best decision for the UK ?