Just how relevant to the plight of inshore fishermen like Ben Stoten is the story of the Cornelis Vrolijk and huge quotas under foreign ownership?

Just how relevant to the plight of fishermen like Ben Stoten and the recent MMO fish closures is the story of the Cornelis Vrolijk?

The Cornelis Vrolijk featured in a recent Greenpeace report which showed how five of the top ten vessels by size of quota are controlled by overseas companies - some 28% of the UK's fish quota.  

The national media picked up on the story as it seemed to indicate that these huge ships and the Cornelis in particular and their huge quota share are responsible for the plight of the inshore fishermen suffering the MMO closures for skate, ray and plaice until the end of the year.

Daily Mail story  - Independent story 

Newsnight ran the story with a representative from the company that manages the Cornelis strongly defending the vessels fishing operations and a contribution from Charles Clover also making it clear that there is no link between the problems with quota and inshore fishermen and boats like the Cornelis which fish solely for pelagic fish like mackerel, scad and herring.

The Cornelis is currently fishing west side of the Shetlands.

The fishing pattern of the Cornelis Vrolijk can clearly be seen fishing well offshore over the last 12 months around and even beyond UK waters.

12 months AIS track for the Cornelis Vrolijk

Below are her movements for the same period - which includes a number of UK port calls as required in order to meet the Flag of Convenience regulations under which the Dutch vessel operates.

Fishing data supplied by VesselTracker.