The UKIP fishing manifesto:
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| Looks looks to make sense at a glance |
This kind of post gets some support from the fishing community - understandable given the raw deal we seem to get on quotas - let's not forget who signed our fish away in the first place - many thanks Mr Heath. But that act of betrayal is history.
Are UKIP really the party with solid and practicable ideas to make the future of fishingsecure?
Here's one well-informed view referencing all of the above UKIP actions in response to the post above:
"I don't want to get into a war of words over it,but what UKIP say they will sustain is already happening no?
We have an EEZ.... and access rules are historical and British vessels have similar rights abroad....
selective fishing gear - do you need rules for that, or do many of you choose use 100mm for haddock anyway?
Seasonal closures already exist for cod...ie Trevose box.... voluntary agreements exist...mid channel agreement.....
MCZ's and MPA's already exist to prevent aggregate dredging in sensitive stock areas....
land what you catch = discard ban.....and the funding comes from the EU through EFF/EMFF.
Now their 'discard' list:
Two way street - you can tell our scallopers they can't fish French waters....
221kw pointless until industry stop derating/blueprinting engines.....
discard the discard ban...but land what you catch? That's a wordsmith at work.
Pulse trawling is banned under the CFP,as it uses electricity....
and the pointless stats about the economy? What 2.5bn?
I really wanted a party to come out fighting for industry,but this just isn't it. Compare their policy with the Greens - a few sentences vs a few pages. I don't agree with the Greens, but at least they put some actual effort in. And now I'll go away!
Before jumping into bed with UKIP as a way out of the political tit-for-tat game that our present system seems to have descend to - where many people vote for what they don't want in order to not get something else - take the time to read the Green Party's manifesto on fishing - not just a flyer gleaned from populist sound bites guaranteed to make easy reading and appeal to the masses who know not of the complexities of the fishing industry in the UK and its position in the CFPO.
The Green Party don't have all the answers - but - it's a little longer than a page of simplistic bullet points dreamt up by master of PR - and to remind us of just how seriously the fishing industry has been taken by UKIP's leader just take a look at the drubbing Mr Farage gets by another MEP over his appalling attendance record at EU Fisheries Council meetings. Lack of action speaks louder than words.
The Green Party don't have all the answers - but - it's a little longer than a page of simplistic bullet points dreamt up by master of PR - and to remind us of just how seriously the fishing industry has been taken by UKIP's leader just take a look at the drubbing Mr Farage gets by another MEP over his appalling attendance record at EU Fisheries Council meetings. Lack of action speaks louder than words.
Successive UK governments may have fought to get back from the EU what was given away by the Tories in 1973 but it might just be pertinent to consider what and how these governments would have provided for the industry with regard to investing in new builds, modernisation, infrastructure and port modernisation, marketing and training. For example, for every £1 that the UK gives to the EU we, in Cornwall get £4 back.
At a regional level Cornwall has always been neglected by HMG whatever the colour - education and schools under resourced, an NHS crippled by cuts and centralisation, the residents held to ransom over huge water bills for the benefit of tourists and under-funded rail and public transport - it is £6 return ticket from Penzance to St Just - £20 will buy you a SEVEN day bus pass in London!
We might not like being in the EU but it must be worth considering where we might be were we not.