David Levy – It Defies Belief – Dec 2012
Our fishing Minister at Defra, Richard Benyon has just returned from Europe where once again he has flouted scientific advice and has bargained with other European Ministers for quotas that exceed what the ecosystem of British waters can support. So once again no solutions for our ever decreasing fish stocks and no answer for our food security problem. That is that we can only feed ourselves from our waters for less than 6 months a year. The rest of the year we have to buy from other countries. Is that ethical, moral, even sustainable?
I would argue very strongly that it is not and we are behaving in an arrogant and imperialistic manner. With a growing population worldwide we have to take a more responsible position than we currently do. We should be building up our stocks to levels where we can fish sustainably from our waters. That means marine reserves now, protecting nursery and spawning grounds, and having Icelandic management concepts so we protect what we have. Icelanders are reliant on their fishing industry so we have much to learn from them, yet we learn nothing and are constantly repeating the errors of the past.
Richard Benyon in opposition spoke eloquently about what was needed to improve our situation, but in office he has become ineffectual and therefore he is now the problem
David Levy – 31st December 2012
