David Levy – And So It Goes – Apr 22

Greenpeace in their latest documentary on British Fishing [see footnote for link] highlighted the despair and almost reluctant acceptance that all promises made by the British Government during the Brexit debate have proved to be empty words.

The evidence of filmed foreign super factory ships fishing inshore in British waters demonstrates that once again the UK fishing industry have been abandoned as foreign trawlers hoover up what shoalsshoal A sandbank or sandbar that makes the water shallow there are within the English Channel.

Our inshore fleets are unable to compete with them, and our enforcement officers in the Marine Management Organisation are toothless.

This means that the British controlled waters are in fact lawless and many within the UK inshore fleet have given up as they cannot survive without a level playing field.

Those of us who have been seeing the same thing over the years during the consultations on the Common Fisheries Policy can only endorse the observations of the fishermen who feel sold down the river.

It is only our UK inshore fleet which can deliver a sustainable national fish stock, one that is well maintained and in healthy condition.   But they get no support and only empty words by Government.

Ministers continue to endorse the ‘culture of fraud’ which is endemic when it comes to management issues.   The Water Industry is another such instance.

Marinet is launching a survey which is seeking an answer from all sides in the fishing industry, asking it to come up with the solutions to this current “long in the tooth” situation, and I hope that the industry is able to be inventive in the solutions otherwise many in the industry will sell up.

If you think that that is unlikely, can I remind you that at one time, at ports such as Hull and Great Yarmouth, you could walk across the entire harbour, going from boat to boat.

Now the boats no longer exist, they are gone.

That is how successive Governments have let this industry down. It is a fact no one can deny.

Footnote: Greenpeace have made a film High & Dry: How UK Fishermen were sold out by Brexit. It’s the story of what’s really going on out in our oceans and how it’s affecting fishermen’s lives.
https://act.greenpeace.org/page/98098/data/1?source%3DEM%26subsource%3DOCMRGLSHEM03VI%26utm_source%3Dnewsletter%26utm_medium%3DEmail%26utm_campaign%3DSupertrawler%2B-%2Bwatch%2BHigh%2Band%2BDry%2Bfilm%2B-%2Bshare%2B%2BSH%26utm_term%3D&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1643193436484471&usg=AOvVaw0oERf1isBhdiA8F4HcSjS5
You can also watch it on Facebook.