Rather than ramping up our ability to police our own waters, the Government has been busy cutting funds to the organisation tasked with monitoring, capturing and prosecting illegal fishing.
// Far fewer pirate fishermen are being caught in English and Welsh waters, with prosecutions, warnings and inspections all plummeting in recent years following cuts at the enforcement agency.
The reduction in action against illegal fishing, a multimillion-pound activity, is putting marine life at risk and allowing “blackfish” to become a normal catch for some rogue operators, according to experts. Those convicted of major fishing crimes are also free to continue fishing afterwards.
The steep drop in activity is revealed in data that the enforcement agency, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), released to Greenpeace in response to freedom of information requests.
It shows that the annual number of prosecutions fell to 14 in 2014 and 2015, compared with an average of 23 in each of the three years before. Written and verbal warnings have fallen by 66% and 53% respectively over the last five years. Inspecting the lorries carrying fish from ports is also vital to prevent fraud, but these checks have fallen by almost half since 2013. //
The announcement on the London Convention is little more than propaganda to cheer up the Conservative Party's Brexiteers, it won't actually protect 'British' fish.