Revealed: the millionaires hoarding UK fishing rights

A painstaking five-month long investigation shows that a small group of wealthy families control huge swathes of the country’s fishing quota

Small-scale fishers have long hoped for a greater share of UK fishing quota. 

More than a quarter of the United Kingdom’s fishing quota is in the hands of a tiny group of the country’s wealthiest families, an Unearthed investigation has found.

Just five families on the Sunday Times Rich List hold or control 29% of the UK’s fishing quota.

The finding comes from a new Unearthed investigation that traced the owners of more than 95% of UK quota holdings – including, for the first time, those of Scotland, the UK’s biggest fishing nation.

It reveals that more than two-thirds of the UK’s fishing quota is controlled by just 25 businesses – and more than half of those are linked to one of the biggest criminal overfishing scams ever to reach the British courts.

Meanwhile, in England nearly 80% of fishing quota is held by foreign owners or domestic Rich List families, and more than half of Northern Ireland’s quota is hoarded onto a single trawler.

The news comes as the government is preparing to publish a new fisheries bill, which will set the legal foundations for the UK’s fishing industry after Brexit. But while the government is hoping it can net access to more fishing rights in the Brexit negotiations, it has said the new bill will not see any redistribution of the UK’s existing quota rights.

As Unearthed’s investigation reveals, this would leave the bulk of UK fishing rights in the hands of a small domestic elite and a handful of foreign multinationals.

Responding to Unearthed’s findings, shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman said ministers needed to take “urgent action to use the powers that they have domestically to redistribute fishing quota to deliver a fairer deal for smaller boats”.

“Fishing was the poster child of the Leave campaign and [environment secretary Michael] Gove has already broken promises he made to the industry to secure full control of our waters during the transition,” she continued. “With all the talk of ‘take back control’, ministers have the power to distribute UK quota now and put the smaller-scale fleet first. So why wasn’t it mentioned in their white paper?

“This [Unearthed story] shows that, while it points the fingers at others, this government is to blame for a sector rigged in the interests of the super-rich. Any future fishing policy must consider how new and existing quota can be more fairly distributed and we will treat this as a priority in the upcoming fisheries bill.”

The investigation found:

• The five largest quota-holders control more than a third of UK fishing quota
• Four of the top five belong to families on the Sunday Times Rich List
• The fifth is a Dutch multinational whose UK subsidiary – North Atlantic Fishing Company – controls around a quarter of England’s fishing quota
• Around half of England’s quota is ultimately owned by Dutch, Icelandic, or Spanish interests
• More than half (13) of the top 25 quota holders have directors, shareholders, or vessel partners who were convicted of offences in Scotland’s £63m “black fish” scam – a huge, sophisticated fraud that saw trawlermen and fish processors working together to evade quota limits and land 170,000 tonnes of undeclared herring and mackerel
• One of the flagships of the “Brexit flotilla” – which sailed up the Thames in 2016 to demand the UK’s exit from the EU – is among the UK’s 10 biggest quota-holders
• Around 29% of UK fishing quota is directly controlled by Rich List families. Some of these families have investments in dozens of other fishing companies, meaning companies holding 37% of UK quota are wholly or partly owned by these Rich List families.

Who owns the UK's fishing quota? from Greenpeace Unearthed on Vimeo.

What is a fixed quota allocation?

Most fishing rights in the UK are distributed by fixed quota allocations (FQAs). An FQA gives the holder the right to land a certain share of the UK’s “total allowable catch” (TAC) of a particular stock. The TAC for each stock varies from year to year, based on scientific advice and negotiations in Brussels. There is an active market in the trading and leasing of FQAs.

The latest revelations follow Unearthed’s 2016 investigation into English quota holdings which revealed that a tiny fiberglass dinghy apparently “held” more than a fifth of the fishing quota for the entire South-West.

Now, Unearthed’s first UK-wide dive into the opaque world of fishing rights has uncovered further striking statistics.

Those with the biggest hoards of quota can earn millions leasing it to others without casting a net. In one recent case a company got rid of its boat and – while waiting for a new one – carried on earning millions from its quota alone.

That boat, the Voyager, holds more than half (55%) of Northern Ireland’s fishing quota. In late 2015 the owners disposed of their old, 76m trawler and ordered a replacement . Company accounts show that the new Voyager was not delivered until September 2017, and in the meantime, the company made money by leasing out the quota.

In 2016-17 the company made an income of nearly £7m from its quota – reporting an operating profit of £2.5m – despite having no vessel for the full financial year.

Despite holding more than half of the country’s quota, the new 86m-long Voyager has not landed its catches in Northern Ireland, because it is too big for Kilkeel Harbour. Instead the vessel operates out of the Republic of Ireland port of Killybegs.

Unearthed approached Voyager Fishing Company and its owners, but they were unavailable for comment.

The black fish millionaires

In Scotland – the biggest fishing nation in the UK, with two-thirds of the quota – the domination of the fishing industry by Rich List families is most pronounced.

Five Rich List families control a third of Scottish quota and have minority investments in companies that hold a further 11%. This means, in total, companies holding close to half (45%) of all Scottish fishing quotas are wholly or partly owned by five wealthy families.

But the investigation also reveals how many of those at the centre of one of Scottish fishing’s most infamous episodes – the black fish scandal – continue to dominate the industry.

Grimsby town was once home to the largest fleet of fishing trawlers in the UK. 

The scandal came to light in 2005, when Scottish officials raided fish factories to uncover “serious and organised” schemes to systematically evade quota restrictions for mackerel and herring, using underground pipes, secret weighing machines, and extra conveyor belts to land 170,000 tonnes of over-quota fish over several years.

A multi-year police investigation followed, resulting in a series of court cases over 2011 and 2012 in which three fish factories and more than two dozen skippers were hit with fines and confiscation orders for “black landings” of undeclared fish.

Unearthed’s investigation found that of the 20 biggest holders of Scottish quota, 13 have directors, shareholders, or vessel partners who were convicted of sea fishing offences in the black fish scandal.

Among those prosecuted were four members of the Tait family – worth £115m according to the Rich List – whose Klondyke Fishing Company is the second-largest quota holder in Scotland.

The four men – all skippers on its vessels – were hit with fines and confiscation orders of more than £800,000 for their part in the scam.

Two years later, one of those skippers, Peter Tait, 50, reportedly bought the most expensive house sold in Scotland that year. Over the past five years Klondyke has paid out shareholder dividends totalling £56m.

Unearthed has reached out to Klondyke but the company declined to comment.

The Scottish top 10 also includes the vessel partnership that runs the trawler Christina S. In 2012, two men involved in that partnership – Ernest Simpson, 71, and his son Allan Simpson, 49, both of Aberdeenshire – were handed fines and confiscation orders totalling more than £800,000 for their involvement in the black fish scam.

Four years later, the Christina S was among the flotilla of vessels that sailed up the Thames with Nigel Farage, to protest EU fisheries policy weeks before the Brexit referendum.

John Anderson is chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation, a huge fish producer organisation which has several members – including the Christina S – that were involved in the black fish scandal.

He told Unearthed: “The pelagic fishermen and processors involved will be the first to acknowledge that, in the past, mistakes were made.”

As a result, he continued, the sector had founded the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group to oversee the certification of its main fisheries to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards. Since that time, he added, “98% of the group’s stocks have been certified as sustainable and well managed by the MSC.”

Foreign flagships

In England, the UK’s second largest fishing nation, three Rich List families control around 30% of the quota.

A further 49% is ultimately held by Dutch, Spanish and Icelandic interests who have bought up English vessels and quota.

The most significant of these interests is Cornelis Vrolijk Holding, a Dutch multinational whose UK subsidiary alone holds 24% of English quota, making it the biggest quota-holder in England, and one of the five biggest in the UK.

Matthew Cox, chief executive of North Atlantic Fishing Company, Cornelis Vroljik’s UK subsidiary, said the company had been established in the UK since 1984, employed around 60 UK fishermen, had two UK offices, and had launched a UK apprenticeship scheme. He also suggested that the type of fishing his company does is not well suited for small-scale fishermen.

He added: “North Atlantic does not operate at the expense of small-scale fishermen. Pelagic [midwater fish such as mackerel and herring] and whitefish fishing are very different and a simple comparison/substitution between each is not possible.

“The deep sea nature of the environment make pelagic fishing difficult, dangerous and not very attractive for artisanal fishermen who tend to focus on low volume, high value fish such as cod or monkfish.”

The bulk of the company’s quota is for pelagic fish – which swim at midwater – and it has always emphasised the fact that its nets do not damage the sea bed.

However, after the Brexit vote in 2016 the company bought a beam trawler – with nets attached to a heavy beam designed to trawl for “demersal fish” that are found close to the sea bed – and bought up quotas for plaice and sole.

Mr Cox said: “Following the 2016 decision for the UK to leave the EU it was very clear early on, to the directors of North Atlantic Fishing, that there would be changes to the UK fishing industry. North Atlantic had always focused on pelagic fishing and it was therefore decided that the company should spread its risk in the interests of the company and its workforce and enter the demersal fishing industry in a very limited manner.”

Privatising a public resource

Small scale fishermen told Unearthed that successive governments had mismanaged fishing rights, allowing quota to be consolidated on a handful of supertrawlers while smaller, low impact fishermen had been progressively starved of access.

Jerry Percy, director of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association, told Unearthed this had resulted in a situation where the smaller inshore vessels that make up 77% of the fleet had ended up with “less than 4% of the quota”.

“This is privatisation of a public resource,” added Mr Percy, who campaigns on behalf of fishermen with smaller, under-10m long, vessels.

Large scale fishing interests contacted for this piece argued that their businesses generated hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, and that it was misleading to rank businesses by quota holdings alone, when the amount and value of fish that can be landed against those holdings varies between species, and area, and from year to year.

Several also pointed out that many of the biggest quota holders identified by Unearthed were trawlers focused on midwater pelagic stocks, like mackerel and herring.

These fisheries, they claimed, were environmentally friendly – with a low carbon footprint and no impact on the seabed – but the fish were too low-value and far from the coast to be attractive to small-scale fishermen.

John Anderson is chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation – a huge fish producer organisation with several of the top 25 in its membership.

He told Unearthed: “While it is true that there has been considerable consolidation within the pelagic catching sector over the past 20 years, with a trend towards fewer, more efficient vessels each with a greater concentration of fishing opportunity, the economic reality is that small-scale, inshore fishermen, many of whom are also members of the SFO, do not have the necessary capacity or markets needed to fully utilise the pelagic quotas that are already available to them.”

Mr Percy retorted: “If you go back years ago, there was any number of smaller inshore boats that were reliant on mackerel and especially herring in the North Sea before the inshore herring fisheries were decimated by overfishing by larger-scale interests.”

Nick Underdown, of the Scottish campaign group Open Seas, said it was hard for smaller boats to take up mackerel quota without investment in onshore facilities to support them. “At the moment, the supply chain infrastructure favours bigger boats,” he told Unearthed.

“But if we invest in processing with the strategic intention to help the smaller-scale fleet, then inshore fishery could bounce back.

“This would be a lifeline for those harbours where fishing has declined due to consolidation.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We are clear fishing communities and our wider economy should benefit as much as possible from those fishing the UK’s quota, and we are working closely with fishermen to review and reform the rules around the economic link condition.”

Who are the families on fishing's Rich List?

• Alexander Buchan and family are ranked 804 in the 2018 Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated net worth of £147m. The family’s Peterhead-based Lunar Fishing Company owns or controls 8.9% of the UK’s quota holdings (739,153 FQAs), making it the biggest quota holder in the UK.

• Jan Colam and family are ranked 882 on the Rich List (estimated worth: £130m). The Colam family-owned company Interfish is the second largest quota holder, with 7.8% of the UK total (643,927 FQAs)

• Robert Tait and family are ranked 980 on the Rich List (estimated worth: £115m). The family’s Klondyke Fishing Company is the UK’s third-largest quota holder, with 6.1% of the UK total (506,953 FQAs).

• Andrew Marr and family are ranked 567 on the Rich List (estimated worth: £209m). The family’s Hull-based Andrew Marr International owns or controls 5.1% of UK quota holdings (419,937 FQAs), making it the UK’s 5th largest quota holder. It also has minority stakes in companies and vessel partnerships that hold a further 5.4% of UK quota (445,981 FQAS).

• Sir Ian Wood and family are ranked 77 on the Rich List, with an estimated worth of £1.7bn (a fortune built largely on oil and gas services). Sir Ian’s fishing business, JW Holdings, holds 1% of the UK’s fishing quota (83,463 FQAs) and has minority investments in businesses/partnerships that hold a further 2.3% (192,169 FQAs).

Full story courtesy of Crispin Dowler @CrispinDowler 



The extent of ownership was brought to the attention of MP Michael Gove at the end of last year in a previous Unearthed article:

Michael Gove criticised over ‘gross inequality’ of fishing quota system
Labour calls for an end to 'deeply unjust monopolies' in response to Unearthed investigation

Opposition parties have called for the government to take “urgent action” to redistribute UK fishing rights and end “deeply unjust monopolies” of fishing quota by a wealthy elite.

The calls came after an Unearthed investigation revealed this morning that five of the UK’s wealthiest families control more than a quarter of the country’s fishing quota.

Responding to the investigation, shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman told Unearthed: “The findings of this investigation highlight the hypocrisy and betrayal that this government continues to inflict upon British fishers in coastal communities right across the UK.

“We have known for years that ministers need to take urgent action to use the powers that they have domestically to redistribute fishing quota to deliver a fairer deal for smaller boats.

“But instead this government prefers to blame others and turn the other way as access to quota continues to be restricted for small boats and controlled by huge commercial boats and some of the wealthiest families in the UK.”

The government is poised to publish a new fisheries bill, which will set the legal framework for the UK fishing industry after Brexit. The government hopes to secure a greater share of the catch from British waters in the Brexit negotiations – but it has said it does not plan any changes to the way existing UK quotas are distributed.

As Unearthed’s investigation revealed today, that would leave 29% of the UK’s fishing quota in the hands of just five families on the Sunday Times Rich List – and around half of England’s quota in the hands of overseas interests.


Shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman called on ministers to "deliver a fairer deal for smaller boats".

Ms Hayman continued: “Labour is not surprised by this report that highlights the gross inequality of the fishing sector. We already know despite making up the majority of the British fishing fleet, smaller boats have just four per cent of the total quota.

“We know the Dutch-owned trawler, the Cornelis Vrolijk, controls more than a fifth of England’s entire quota allocation, and about two-thirds of England’s quota is awarded to three multi-national companies.

“But we are outraged at the lack of action from government to fix this. Fishing was the poster child of the Leave campaign and Gove has already broken promises he made to the industry to secure full control of our waters during the transition. With all the talk of ‘take back control’, Ministers have the power to distribute UK quota now and put the smaller-scale fleet first. So why wasn’t it mentioned in their white paper?

“This report shows while it points the fingers at others, this government is to blame for a sector rigged in the interests of the super-rich. Any future fishing policy must consider how new and existing quota can be more fairly distributed and we will treat this as a priority in the upcoming fisheries bill.”

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas told Unearthed: “This is a timely reminder that the health of our seas and oceans is being decimated to make profits for an already ultra-rich elite. If this government was serious about giving power back to local communities, they would act to end these deeply unjust monopolies right away.

“At the heart of our future fisheries policy needs to be a legally binding commitment to restoring our depleted seas, while at the same time providing secure jobs in sustainable fishing for coastal communities around the UK.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told Unearthed the department was reviewing rules around the “economic link” that foreign-owned flagships must have with the UK in order to hold UK quota.

She said: “We are clear fishing communities and our wider economy should benefit as much as possible from those fishing the UK’s quota, and we are working closely with fishermen to review and reform the rules around the economic link condition.”

See the a previous article, "How Privatising the seas: how the UK turned fishing rights into a commodity"

Full story courtesy of Crispin Dowler @CrispinDowler

The life of Newlyn trawlerman Mike Mahon - part II.

Veteran Fishing News reporter Phil Lockley continues Grimmy’s story as the political fight begins.

Grimmy: Tell it as it is.

At the conclusion of Part I, skipper Mike ‘Grimmy’ Mahon revealed how his political activities started, leading to his ceaseless fight with British governments and authorities, reports Phil Lockley

When the senseless dumping of fish gained media attention, waiting in the wings was Grimmy, and the intensity of his activities increased.

To us in the media, Grimmy was so easy to get a quote from. He still gravitates toward radio, television, or anyone with a notebook in their hand. He has no fear of being quoted, and even if we blew the tale out of all proportion, Grimmy would shrug his shoulders and say, ‘no news is the only bad news’. In the referendum, Cornwall scored a Brexit majority, and perhaps Grimmy’s many years of battering the EU by taunting the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) helped to achieve that.

After selling his boat and licence to a flagship company, Grimmy stayed in fishing, shortly afterwards purchasing the 41ft steel trawler Betty G. Meanwhile, his political fight intensified.

I talked to Grimmy about his views on the future of the UK fishing industry, and how even after Brexit, the fight of British fishermen to rid themselves of EU rule may fail.

Grimmy and Brian Tobin were united in promoting the fishing industries in Canada and its mother country, the UK.

If you are a Brexiteer, read on; it will raise your hopes – and if you are a Remainer, please read on to understand why a huge percentage of British fishermen voted for Brexit, and how Brexit warriors like ex-skipper Mike Mahon will fight on until Britain truly becomes an independent coastal state.

Grimmy said: “I never did agree with licences or quotas. In Canada, they have a system where, each year, you pay for your licences; you might do several types of fishing, so you have to buy the appropriate licences. One licence might cost you $10 and another might cost you thousands of dollars; it depends on the profitability of the fishery – and when you leave that type of fishing, those licences cannot be traded, but are returned to the Canadian government.

“That sounds a bad deal for Canadian fishermen, but I believe that part of the licence fee is kept back until you retire, and then that money is returned to you, like a pension.

“If there is too much fishing, the Canadian government keeps back the relevant licences, and when the stocks are looking better, those licences go back into circulation. That system works, and works very well. But from day one, the system over here has been an absolute disaster.

“Looking back to when I transferred the licence from Joal to a flagship company – and when the MAFF (now MMO) district inspector at Plymouth, Colin George, said I shouldn’t – I can remember the front page of Fishing News reporting on how John Gummer, fisheries minister at that time, had banned the transfer of licences from boats under 80ft in length to boats over 80ft.

“I was OK – the transfer of Joal to Joe O’Connor had taken place, and he had paid me in full – but there were others who were hit by that new rule, and couldn’t go ahead. Some had already received their 10% deposit, and I believe that they were allowed to keep it, but they were given their boats back.

“Betty G was a good little boat, and I worked her single-handed quite easily, but as for other fishermen, with quotas and restrictions and the way things were going, it was depressing – it took the fun out of fishing. I was dumping cod day after day. And of all the cod fishing that I have done – in Iceland, Greenland, the White Sea, the North Sea – the best cod fishing I ever saw was in 1988, fishing off Newlyn. Truly, the ground was knee-deep with cod.

“But we caught most of the year’s quota in three days, and together, the Newlyn boats alone were dumping thousands and thousands of tonnes of cod.

“Eventually, we had a ban for three months to prevent dumping, but then a small quota was given, dumping continued, and the ban came back. It was a nightmare. On one day, I was dumping two to three tonnes of cod per tow. When you take into account the size and horsepower of Betty G – just 127hp from a Gardner 6LXB, and it was a bus engine, not a proper marine engine – now, compare that to a big sidewinder. And I used no fancy style of trawl, either, just an 8.5 fathom net from the old Concord pattern, the same pattern as we used on the Grimsby boats.

“Comparing those catches off Cornish boats to the catches of cod we had on the Grimsby sidewinders, the catches of Cornwall were massive. We all suffered the consequences of EU quotas, and we were forced to throw back a huge tonnage of dead fish.

“I remember Fishing News covering the story one week, when I made £5,000 but had to dump over £6,000-worth of cod to do that. Had the Newlyn fleet – for example – been allowed to keep those fish, there wouldn’t have been so much fish caught. Fishing was so heavy that I, and other skippers like me, would have gone back to port more often – very often, in fact – so overall, there would have been a lot less fishing. It meant we were hammering more fish to make a standard wage.

Brian Tobin, then Canadian minister of fisheries and oceans, and later premier of Newfoundland, was the guest of honour at the Newlyn Fish Festival.

Jo-al  against the pier.

Jo-al heading for the gaps and another day at sea.

“I couldn’t stand it any more, so to get away from the rules and regulations, I decommissioned Betty G and bought the under-10m trawler J-Anne BRD 92. But, as time went on, those regulations began to creep down to the smaller boats. The CFP is the biggest environmental disaster on record. I can remember the news reports of an Eyemouth skipper hauling up 2,000 boxes of coley. Fishing News said his net was bulging with fish right up to the mouth, but he had to dump the lot: £40,000-worth of fish were thrown away dead. That week he made £40,000, but he dumped £400,000-worth of coley to get it. And it wasn’t just him; every other boat was forced to do the same. You couldn’t move in the North Sea without catching coley, but those men had hardly any quota for coley. There’s only one word for dumping fish: criminal.

“I had a television set on the Betty G. I never used to listen to the shipping forecast on Radio 4, but watched the lunchtime news; that was always a good forecast. I remember one day dumping several tonnes of cod, then looking at the BBC and seeing all those kids in Somalia starving to death. There is something wrong on this planet when you see people starving, with people just five hours’ flight-time away dumping astronomical amounts of fish.

“By the time I had the J-Anne, the POs were getting stronger. I never liked the POs, and at that time, they were siding with the EU commission. Without the CFP, the POs were not necessary. I have never supported the POs; and in speaking on behalf of many fishermen south of Scotland, neither did I support the NFFO.

“About 1995, while I was decommissioning the Betty G, I was at home watching a repeat of The World at War series, with the Canadian soldiers fighting alongside British troops, both streaming onto the Normandy beaches on D-Day.

“After that programme, I watched the news, and there was a piece about how Spanish fishermen had plundered Canadian waters to take Greenland halibut, and how, one day, the Canadian government had had enough and arrested a Spanish boat, Estai. In the days after that conflict, it became known as the ‘Turbot War’.

“However, our government clearly had a short memory, and backed Spain. That was enough for me. Through two world wars, Canadian soldiers fought alongside our soldiers, and in the Turbot War, our government backed Spain – a ridiculous and cowardly act. I was ashamed of our government.

“My stepdaughter lived in Canada, and when we received presents, they were always wrapped in old Canadian newspapers, and as soon as I realised the severity of the Turbot War, I asked her if I could have some complete copies of the relevant newspapers. It was only then that I read the true reports about the Turbot War. So I asked for a Canadian flag to be sent over, so I could fly it from the J-Anne. She also sent a T-shirt with the Canadian flag on it, and I wore that with pride for a very long time. Almost right away, many others wanted a Canadian flag, so I phoned the Canadian High Commission in London to get some.

“That weekend I was going to Yeovil to speak, as nothing but an angry ‘Joe Bloggs’ fisherman at a Tory rally. On the same platform were Bill Cash MP, Norman Tebbit MP, Christopher Booker, a writer for The Sunday Telegraph, and Ian Lentern, another Tory supporter. In my speech, I talked about our views on the Turbot War, and about my call to the Canadian High Commission to get more flags for our fishing boats to fly.

“The audience was in uproar; they were cheering, and people were standing and yelling their Canadian support – there were over 1,200 people at the speech.

“On BBC Newsnight that night, they showed Norman Tebbit speaking, but they had dubbed onto his speech the cheering and yelling that they recorded when I had spoken of Canada. Norman Tebbit’s speech had nothing to do with fishing.

Conservative MP David Harris was a strong supporter of Mike Mahon’s Canadian flag protest.

“So I couldn’t get the media to show interest in the fight between Canada and Spain. I came back home and phoned the Canadian High Commission; they hadn’t been told of my previous request for flags, and I had 1,200 people wanting to back our support, and they were delighted to hear of the support. So I grabbed several of the different Canadian newspapers that my stepdaughter had sent, and phoned the editors of two; they weren’t interested.

“However, as a last shot, I phoned the Toronto Sun to ask a reporter, Robert Benzie, to put an appeal in his paper to obtain Canadian flags for us. Ten minutes later, the editor phoned back, asking if Robert Benzie and a Toronto Sun photographer could bring the flags over, and I immediately said yes. Until their scoop was on the front page of the Toronto Sun, they didn’t want any media coverage in the UK or in Canada.

“Thirty-six hours later, Robert Benzie and his photographer were standing on Newlyn quay, holding seven Canadian flags. Before his flight, Robert Benzie had been into the nearest suitable shop and had bought its stock of flags. He was in such a rush to get the scoop that we only had seven flags; we still needed a lot more, but that seven was enough for the whole idea to rush ahead. The lads returned to Canada, and an eight-page exclusive in the Toronto Sun was published the day after; a further eight pages were printed the next day, and so on. But the national media here in the UK was still not interested.

“So all we had were seven Canadian flags, flying on different boats in Newlyn. Local press photographer Phil Monkton took loads of pictures and the local papers covered it, but the British daily newspapers were still not interested.

“However, four days later, what they call a ‘stringer’ in the press trade discovered the potential of the story, and the British daily newspapers went mad. Phil Monkton must have had the biggest payday ever. And every UK paper wanted its own scoop; my phone was ringing all day, every day; there were reporters and cameras everywhere.

“Canadian fisheries were at war with the Spanish government – and we were at war with Brussels; what could have been better ammunition than that?

“So in the end, most Cornish fishermen flew the Canadian flag, and that spread fast. Others around the UK were buying Canadian flags, and Brian Tobin, Canadian minister of fisheries and oceans, and later the premier of Newfoundland, came to Newlyn to join us as our guest of honour at the Newlyn Fish Festival.

“His support was massive, and I asked him, if he ever became prime minister of Canada, would he come back to Newlyn, and he said, ‘You bet I will, Mike; you lads at Newlyn ask me, and I will be on the next plane.’ By then, being 100% behind the Canadian flag protest, fishermen in Cornwall had the full power of the press behind us, and we used it.

“Contrary to what the UK government and the NFFO had thought, hardly any British people supported Spain’s fight to keep catching Greenland halibut.

“Even though the Canadian fishery officers had arrested that Spanish boat just outside Canadian waters, in the minds of so many people, the Canadian government was acting legally and had won the hearts of millions – and we had also won the hearts of so many people in the British fishing industry.

“Feelings toward the CFP were souring; British people could see that our fishermen were being forced by Brussels to throw back dead fish. Local MPs, like David Harris (Tory), were great supporters, and not only Tories were our supporters – so many other MPs were behind us.

“The action of our government in encouraging our people to support Spain had failed; whatever ashes there were had blown back in their face.

“British boats flying the Canadian flag kept flying those flags for a very long time. The link between UK fishermen and Canadian fishermen grew stronger and stronger – and is still strong. Adding it all up, it cost me around £15,000 to carry out that protest – but it was money well spent.”

This and all the other leading stories from the industry are available from Fishing News publications either online or in print via subscription.

Entitlement of quota - FFL viewpoint.

Answering FFLs Position On Fishing Entitlement

REPATRIATED RESOURCES

FFL are adamant that all repatriated quota is held as a national resource and is divided out to all fishermen in a community.

Under the principle of one ton to one boat. If someone doesn't use their slice it goes back in the pot to be divided again.

That is what we've represented to the highest levels of government repeatedly and has had some acknowledgement in the white paper.

This is in spite of the SFF insisting all repatriated resources are distributed through the current Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) system which has facilitated consolidation.

ECONOMIC LINK

We are adamant their needs to be a stronger economic link that British fishing vessels must comply with.

This is to realise what all policy should aim to deliver - that is maximum benifit from a national resource to communities. Whether through administration or sustainability.

We advocate 60% British ownership and 60% British crew - with a five year dispensation for 100% foreign in all waters. This is until new policy attracts British lads to a post Brexit industry on the up.

Most importantly, it must be stipulated that 60% of catches must be landed, sold and processed in the UK. This would revitalise ports, processors and their buying power.

Any foreign vessel granted access must also land here to deliver economic benifit from resources caught in our waters and ensure complaince.

This is to clamp down on flagships and stop them behaving like fishing tourists. Be a genuine British boat or pack your bags.

SLIPPER SKIPPERS & QUOTA RENT

We have been the only fishing organisation to highlight slipper skippers. Michael Gove hadn't been informed of this blight that until FFL had meetings with him.

We are adamant that slipper skippers should be banned, that any boat to boat rent is capped at 3% of the gross realised on that quota.

This is to end the financial illiteracy of ever more money being thrown at quota.

It's curently bleeding 40-60% of profit from the fleet. It is stifling reinvestment and curtailing wages which would incentivise young men.

Any fishing entitlement should be under the same stipulations as in Norway and other Nordic countries. Entitlement must be held on an active vessel, if not within two years you must use it or lose it.

QUOTAS WILL NEVER WORK

Quotas will never provide accurate science, as you only see caught what the quota is set to - not the natural predominance or fluctuations of stocks.

They will never conserve fish as we either discard to find what we can keep or stop the fleet on exhausting their lowest quota with choke species under the discard ban.

They mean we will always harvest out of balance with nature as we are imposing our own targets and trying to hit them.

Anyone advocating retention of quotas is seditiously trying to protect vested interests or doesn't have a clue about the practicalities of a mixed fishery such as ours.

They'll never work for fishermen due to the above because you either have to spend more time and money at sea discarding or choke and go bust.

As the system doesn't work its been a race to the bottom buying ever more Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) unit entitlement to stagnate (FQAs = quota stocks and shares).

This drives consolidation to a few big corporates, killing coastal comminities and heritage that draws young men to an otherwise hard occupation.

All through nothing more than stupid policy where a select few hope they'll pockle the system to be the last men standing.

Those few MPs standing behind a federation that advocates this for an easy ride/sell should hang their head in shame.

Having a few big companies in a few big ports won't secure coastal communities and constituencies.

REFINED EFFORT CONTROL

That's why FFL advocates a system of refined effort control with Flexible Catch Compositions ( FCCs). We're happy the government proposes trials but they must be meaningful not designed to fail. They must crack on asap and not listen to those trying to stop them.

If the system won't work there is nothing to lose or hide from trying it, but everything to gain if it succeeds.

Under such a system everyone is limited to an equal, sustainable amount of fishing 'soak' time monitored by sensors as hours gear is deployed.

Such a system automatically solves and delivers allowing everyone big or small, static gear or mobile, an equal opoortunity to reach their potential and make a living.

Soak time is derived from calculating how long it would take the whole fleet to catch all the resources in a sea area amalgamelated together.

This makes it's impossible to overfish an ecology as we do currently discarding over the limits to find what we can keep under quotas.

FQAs are converted to FCCs which give the sustainable mix of species you should aim to catch. This preserves the investment and entitlement in FQAs for the bigger holders.

Exceed those percentage and you can keep what you catch. This means you've caught less but can land more and provides accurate data.

However, to stop a race to fish for high value or vulnerable species, any 'wrong' fish incurs a penalty of time equivelant to the value of the fish.

The 'wrong' fish pays for the time but there's no benifit to target the wrong mix as it curtails your year.

As there's time for the crime science knows what it sees is an accurate reflection of stocks and we'll get the TAC mix into line.

As there's no quotas and everyone gets a slice of time to fish it means; No rent. No consolidation and a chance to have a profitable industry that gives young lads a chance to make a career from deck to wheelhouse.

Most importantly as accurate catch per hour per size/type of gear is recorded it delivers a highly accurate Catch per Unit of Effort (CPUE) system.

This is the holy grail of accurate science to deliver sustainable fishing which reflects and is in line with natures fluctuations.

CONCLUSION

That's what FFL advocates. Sadly too many are stuck in the rut and don't want to get out.

Either people chose that vision above or keep the same old system, as the SFF and NFFO advocate, and the managed decline to the last few it causes.

That's why FFL, and its founder especially, were demonized by a few in the industry post referendum by folk in thrawl to big interests.

Although if it hadn't been for founding FFL and driving it to the Thames flotilla and onwards fishing wouldn't be on the map, with the federations hiding behind neutrality.

Everyone see's the way it's going but are others brave enough to put their head above the parapet and say enough, change course.?

www.ffl.org.uk/0809-2/