Selling the silver: the enclosure of the UK's fisheries

Fishing quotas were meant to conserve stocks and support fishing communities, writes Emma Cardwell. But they have achieved the reverse - rewarding the most rapacious fishing enterprises and leaving small scale fisherfolk with nothing.

Will it be a case of hand's off our mackerel?

We can't catch a mackerel now because all the mackerel that swim past our front door are owned by 12 Scotchmen. It's killed the community. There's no community left. The UK's fisheries quota system, introduced in 1999 and comprising the creation of a private market for the right to catch fish, has been called "the biggest property grab since the Norman invasion". 

The UK government use the quota system to control how many fish can be taken from the sea. It does this by dividing up the right to catch fish between a limited number of companies, and then allowing this right to be bought and sold. This privatisation of the produce of the sea has many parallels with the parliamentary enclosure of land in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the press, the quota system is often unquestioningly presented as a conservation measure: a means by which governments can limit the catches of fishermen and protect fish stocks. Policy documents and academic literature tell a different story.

Enclosure: efficiency, or dispossession?

Here, the argument for fisheries quotas closely echoes the economic improvement justifications of enclosure, and is based on those classical Ricardian principles formulated in England during the era of the Enclosure Acts: it is a way to increase the efficiency of the industry, and a means to capture untapped resource rent.

The quota system, which was implemented gradually between 1980 and 2000, has led to widespread dispossession. This is in part because of what is widely considered a calculative error on the part of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA - previously MAFF) that led to the small boat fleet (made up of vessels under ten metres long, and the vast majority of British fishermen) being allocated less than 5% of the right to fish. [2] It is also because of the 'grandfathering' nature of rights allocation to larger boats, which implicitly favoured high-catching vessels. Larger vessel owners were given property rights over fish based on their historic catches.

The proportion they took of the total recorded catch then remained stable as the overall amount fluctuated, meaning the same amount of quota would allow the right to (as an example) 3% of 100 tonnes of cod in 2003, and 3% of 25 tonnes of cod in 2005. Applying Hardin's tragedy of the commons analogy, this system is akin to tackling overgrazing by allocating property rights based on the number of cattle someone owns. It rewards overexploitation, and penalises restraint.

Millionaire quota owners - the new Lords of the Sea

This allocation method led to many low-catching fishermen being forced out of the industry as quota levels fell and they found themselves unable to survive during lean periods. Larger companies could then use their holdings as leverage for loans to buy up this quota, and ownership of the right to fish was consolidated. A stark example of this is the fishery for herring and mackerel. At one time made up of thousands of boats around the coast, over 99% of this valuable fishery - which accounts for almost half of total landings by UK registered vessels - is now caught by only 33 trawlers. [3] The value of these boats, and more importantly their share of UK fishing rights, runs to hundreds of millions of pounds. This increase in costs - the manifestation of the 'resource rent' promised by economic theorists - is turning fishing into a millionaires' club. [4] And it means that the traditionally widespread small business structure of the fishing industry, in which a boat owner / skipper employs a crew on a share (or 'lay') system, is gradually shifting to a model of large company ownership with significant involvement from financial institutions. Of the 33 mackerel and herring boats mentioned above, 14 are owned by just five large companies, a share that increases with every boat sale. Two of these companies (and their associated rights to fish) are owned by non-UK multinationals. [5]

British fishing rights sold down the river

After years of protest, the government finally created a public register of fishing rights holders in December 2013. Although still relatively opaque, this record suggests that just four companies own roughly half of all mackerel quota. While the publication of the fishing rights register represents a significant step forward in accountability, ambiguities in reporting and the common use of shell companies and flag ships mean that it is still hard to know the extent of quota consolidation and foreign ownership across the fishing fleet as a whole. Despite this, it is clear that foreign ownership of fishing rights is widespread - at a conservative estimate, around 20% of English and Welsh fishing rights are owned by a handful of Spanish, Dutch and Icelandic companies, although this number could be higher. [6]

Within the UK, much quota ownership is now consolidated in a small number of industrial ports (such as Peterhead, Lerwick and Brixham) from which large, high-powered vessels travel many miles to fish.

Fishing communities, with no right to fish

This shift towards the concentrated, private ownership of fishing rights, which has taken place only over the last two decades, has decimated fishing communities around the country. As one small-scale fisherman based in Scarborough put it to me: "We can't catch a mackerel now because all the mackerel that swim past our front door are owned by 12 Scotchmen. It's killed the community. There's no community left." This destruction of communities is particularly marked in remote areas. 

The Hebrides was once home to a vibrant fishing industry, but has now lost the vast majority of the right to fish and is entirely dependent on shellfish. Alarmed by these developments and afraid of losing their traditional livelihood and a lynchpin of local culture, in the late 1990s the Shetland Islands Council invested £17 million to form a community-based whitefish quota scheme and retain fishing rights in the islands. In 2003, the European Commission declared this action illegal under European competition law. [7]

Sea Lords and tenants

The promised 'rent' of quota has manifested itself in the practice of investors leasing the right to fish to working fishers, creating a situation akin to landlords and tenants. This is particularly the case for those in the small-scale, under ten metre fleet. These boats fish against a small government allocated pool and, due to the vagaries of the law, are not allowed to supplement this allocation by purchasing extra fishing rights, but can only take these on loan from larger vessels or quota investors. 

Again, the lack of public data on ownership means that the exact extent of this practice is unclear, but it is recognised as endemic throughout the industry. As a fisherman I interviewed on what was once the fish docks at Whitby, and is now a coach and car park, remarked:

"It's all investors now. I'm fifth generation. My eldest son, who takes the boat out, is sixth generation, and we're having to go to these people cap in hand. It makes a mockery of the entire system."

Is fishing quota a private possession?

Currently, the law is muddy as to whether the right to fish has been truly privatised, or if quota holdings simply represent a temporary allocation of a public resource. An extensive political battle between small-scale fishers and quota owners (centred around the diminutive government allocations of fishing rights to smaller boats) culminated in the High Court of Justice of England in summer 2013. But the verdict remained inconclusive as to whether the legal standing of the right to fish was as a private possession or a common good. [8] Regardless of intention, attempts to bring quotas - which have been the subject of multi-million pound investments and used as collateral for bank loans - back into public ownership would prove highly problematic.

Iceland's 'cod bubble'

A bleak illustration of these potential problems can be found in Iceland, often held up as the exemplar of successful quota management. Iceland is highly fisheries dependent, with fish providing 40% of national export earnings, and over 12% of GDP. The price bubble created by the privatisation of Icelandic fisheries - a model that has been enthusiastically followed around the world - can be directly implicated in the nation's economic boom, and its consequent financial collapse in 2008. [9] After the economic collapse, Icelanders became alarmed by the extent of consolidation in their huge fishing industry. By 2011, around 20 companies controlled the majority of Icelandic fishing, and therefore a significant proportion of the country's economy. These fishing companies were linked to politicians and ownership of the national media. 

The extensive dispossession this represented even meant the Icelandic government being accused of human rights violations by the United Nations Court of Human Rights. The Court dropped its case against Iceland in 2012, when the government proposed that 15% of fishing rights should be returned to public ownership and the remainder subject to higher taxes. 

However, such a large proportion of fishing rights were being used as collateral for loans that even this small reclamation threatened to create a crisis for the Icelandic national bank, which since the crash had been funded by the taxpayer. A renationalisation proposal, presented in February 2013, suggested companies retain quota rights for only 20 years, but this has not yet been agreed by Parliament, and has been the source of extensive protest and public clashes between vessel owners and other Icelandic citizens.

Mackerel wars

The upshot of these developments can be seen in the ongoing 'mackerel wars' between the UK, Norway and other EU states on one hand, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands on the other. Echoing the cod wars of the 1970s, it is perhaps difficult to understand the political vehemence with which the UK fishing industry is battling to retain their customary share of the right to fish mackerel, which (probably due to climate change) has begun to shoal further north in Icelandic and Faroese waters - representing a potential windfall for the troubled Icelandic economy. The economic fragility of the heavily consolidated UK industry, and particularly that of vulnerable, remote, fisheries-dependent areas such as far North-East Scotland and Shetland, which now rely economically on just a handful of large boats, can go a long way to explain the high political pitch of these negotiations.

If cuts in quota led to just one large mackerel boat becoming unprofitable and being put up for sale, and if this boat were then to be purchased (as is likely) by a foreign (such as a newly-rich Icelandic) company, a significant proportion of the national right to fish would disappear. And the result could be that whole regions would permanently lose the right to make a living from the sea.

Emma Cardwell is researching for a PhD at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. She holds an MSc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy from Oxford University and a BSc in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics. Her research interests are in agricultural and food systems, society and food production, environmental economics, research theory, economic and social history and grass-roots democracy and environmental justice.

This article was originally published by The Land magazine, Issue 15.

References

1. By lawyer Thomas Appleby, quoted in E Cardwell, 'Who owns the right to catch fish? Manchester United?' The Guardian 5th August 2011 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/05/fishing-quotas-priv...This covers the problems of the small-scale fleet in more detail.
2. Ibid
3. See E J Cardwell, and R Gear, 'Transferable quotas, efficiency and crew ownership in Whalsay, Shetland'. Marine Policy, vol 40., pp. 160-166, 2013,. which takes into account two more boats owned by Cornelis Vrolijk/Jaczon.
4. Author's interview with Hebridean fisherman, Stornoway, Aug 2012.
5. The five companies are Interfish Ltd. (Plymouth), Klondyke Fishing Company Ltd. (Fraserburgh), Lunar Fishing Company Ltd. (Peterhead), UK Fisheries Ltd. (Hull) and Cornelis Vrolijk/Jaczon. UK Fisheries Ltd is co-owned by the Icelandic company Samherji hf and the Dutch Parlevliet en van der Plas, and two companies, North Atlantic Fishing Co. and Valiant Trawlers (counted together in the text), are both owned by Netherlands based company Cornelis Vrolijk/Jaczon.
6. Estimate based on quota allocations to, and membership of, English and Welsh Fish Producer Organisations. See also the UK Quota Registry.
7. See John Anderson , 'Rights based management in the United Kingdom - the Shetland experience' in Case Studies in Fisheries Self-governance: FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 50
8. The full high court judgement of this case (No: CO/4796/2012) is available online at www.judiciary.gov.uk. The Author wrote an analysis of this decision in July 2013 at www.bloodandoats.blogspot.com.
9. For the role of fisheries privatisation in the Icelandic financial collapse see Sam Knight, "Caught Out", Prospect, 20 July 2011. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/caught-out.

Fishermen 'scraping the barrel' in English Channel

Yet another 'doom and gloom' article from the national press appeared in the Daily Telegraph!

Some basic questions need asking here. As there are no skate landed under current CFP policy there are no landings to compare in recent years - boats do not target this fish anymore, and many years ago there was a huge longlining fleet in Newlyn that did fish for ling and skate - not one boat remains lining as they have all moved on to gillnetting - a method of fishing that does not target skate and is far less effective at catching fish like ling.

There are alternative explanations that might just explain the changes in data - for instance, scallops, squid and cuttlefish are not subject to quotas - hence there are now many more boats fishing for these species as buying or leasing quota is hugely expensive.

Data and the resultant statistics based on landing are never going to reflect a true and accurate picture of stock state when taken in isolation and out of context.

Here is the article in full courtesy of the Telegraph with a few areas highlighted:

Fishermen are "scraping the bottom of the barrel" in the English Channel with stocks of cod and haddock fast running out, according to new research. The common skate, a large iconic fish, which existed in huge numbers has all but disappeared from the channel. Sharks, rays, and many other species at the head of the food chain are also at historic lows, with many having vanished from the sea altogether. An analyses of catches over the past 90 years shows top predators that once filled the nets have been replaced by increasing amounts of shellfish - at the bottom of the food chain - scraped of(f) the sea bed.
The phenomenon is known as 'fishing down the food web' and has been caused by decades of overfishing, reports the journal PLOS ONE.

The scientists used statistics from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas to establish a 'mean trophic level' for catches, an average for how far up the food chain the fish are located. Decades of overfishing in the English Channel has resulted in the removal of many top predators from the sea and left fishermen 'scraping the barrel' for increasing amounts of shellfish to make up their catch. Sharks, rays, cod, haddock and many other species at the head of the food chain are at historic lows with many removed from the area completely. Marine biologist Professor Jason Hall-Spencer, of the University of Plymouth, said: "All around the UK we are scraping the bottom of the barrel, destructively dredging the seabed for scallops and prawns as fish have disappeared. "When destructive fishing practices are banned, marine life soon recovers. So we urgently need a network of recovery zones in the English Channel to allow marine life to bounce back."

He was inspired to carry out the study, the first of its kind in the English Channel, after researchers uncovered a similar picture in the Firth of Clyde. He said: "We used to have giant common skate in the English Channel. They were called 'common', because they were exactly that. Really common! Now they have entirely disappeared. It is an iconic, very large fish, very slow moving and has very few babies. "It used to hide on the seabed but then these huge trawlers began dredging them up, and now they don't exist. The same could happen to cod and haddock which are threatened by this destructive equipment. A parliamentary select committee has found the Government is dragging its heels over this issue. "Norway and Iceland has banned these big trawlers from their waters because they realised the damage they were doing. We must do the same. Don't get me wrong. I am from Plymouth, and I realise how important the industry is to the area. But it must be sustainable."

He added: "It is clear from our analyses that fishing pressure has caused significant changes to food webs of the English Channel over the past 90 years. "The mean Trophic Level of English Channel landings has fallen by 0.1 unit per decade, one of the fastest rates reported among other heavily fished regions of the world, providing yet more evidence that 'fishing down food webs' is a worldwide phenomenon." Today, the UK and France land around 150,000 tonnes of seabed fish and shellfish per year from the 75,000 square kilometre channel, a huge rise from the 9,000 tons recorded in 1920 and the 51,000 in 1950.

During that time, the composition of catches has altered dramatically, with sharks and rays falling from 34% in 1920 to just six percent in 2010. The contribution of 'cods, haddocks and hakes' similarly fell from 48% to just four percent over the same period. Spurdogs, tope sharks, thornback rays, Atlantic cod, ling and European hake show the most remarkable decline, while flounders, halibut and soles have changed relatively little.

The falling levels of finfish has been counterbalanced by increased landings of shellfish such as scallops, and of squid, octopus and cuttlefish. This has in turn raised concerns over long term sustainability, and the potential damage done to the marine environment as a result of dredging and trawling for these invertebrates.

Researcher Carlotta Molfese said: "Fisheries typically remove top predators first and as a result their direct competitors and prey are able to prosper, affecting the overall productivity and ecological stability of the ecosystem. Severe declines in the populations of major predator species have now been reported around the world."

Doug Beare, of conservatists WorldFish, said its research has shown a decline of finfish species has been followed by an increase in their invertebrate prey, and although new and economically viable fisheries have developed for these, alarm has been raised about their long term sustainability. He added: "We promote a sustainable approach to fisheries that will help to protect our natural resources and ensure fish stocks are available for future generations. Solid global and regional governance of these vital resources will ensure we can produce enough fish for everyone." The researchers say that far from being a modern phenomenon, overfishing can be traced as far back as the 19th century, with declining stocks reported in 1863. But geographic expansion into new fishing grounds and improved technology combined to maintain increased landings.

Read the full paper here http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0101506

#FishyFriday is here again

Try it!

Lemons galore from the latest addition to the Newlyn inshore fleet...

best ice shovel you can get for the fishroom...

just how old is this Dover sole, another otolith is removed...

a good mix of inshore and beam trawl fish for today's market...

still sorting, grading and weighing, some were a little late to market...

keen bidding on the hake today...

a solitary giant, giant weaver...

quality red mullet always a delight to see on the market...

upon reflection...

biggest of the big hake, 6 kilo plus...

still gear to do aboard the Angel Emiel...

while the netter Stelissa is up on the slip...

classic sail boat, Our Lizzie has a classic counter stern...

looks like the Coop will be shit for a few days while they repair the damage after yesterday's fire...

Tom is hoping to stay dry today...

while the coastal path is slowly taking shape.

Busy #FishyFriday

The Prince of Wales brings together fish and finance industries to accelerate global fisheries recovery

The Prince of Wales is bringing together experts from the worlds of fishing and finance today to discuss ways to invest in the sustainability of the oceans. Representatives of government, the fishing industry, investors and leading conservation groups will gather at St James's Palace at an event titled Financing the Transition to a Sustainable 'Blue' Economy.

Fisheries are a key component of the global ocean, or 'blue', economy. They contribute US$274 billion to global GDP, provide around 3 billion people with their main source of animal protein, and employ over 200 million people, the majority of whom are in developing countries. Global fisheries are under threat and a transition to a more sustainable management system is urgently required.

The meeting will reveal a report written by The Prince of Wales's International Sustainability Unit (ISU) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) that outlines a framework for investing in the transition to more sustainable fisheries[1]. The ground-breaking research shows that there is a financial return to be had from the transition to a more sustainable management system if fisheries are structured as investable propositions.

Real world examples show financial increases do not have to be at the expense of vital social and environmental benefits for local communities and for fish stocks. For example, in the Pacific Halibut fishery, sustainable management interventions led to over a 200% increase in revenues. Likewise, in the important clam fishery in Ben Tre Province in Vietnam, the value increased by almost 50%, increasing incomes and providing around 4,000 more jobs for local fishers.

The World Bank has estimated that, at a global level, some US$50 billion worth of additional value could be derived from the world’s fisheries each year, if they were managed in more sustainable ways. Progress toward realizing this lost value has been hampered, amongst other things, by a lack of investment in the natural and social capital that is the fundamental basis of the global fish economy.

In a keynote speech The Prince of Wales will warmly congratulate all those present on the progress made towards solutions to the pressing challenges facing our oceans and fisheries. He is expected to say "Economy and ecology do not have to be locked into an irreconcilable struggle……We know from many examples around the world that the transition towards sustainability can deliver a wide range of economic, social and ecological benefits. The transition to sustainable fisheries, therefore, should be seen as a 'no regrets' investment. It requires capital today to ensure that these benefits exist tomorrow."

Also present at the meeting is Fred Krupp, President of EDF: “Oceans are the single most important resource in human history,” he said “We have an opportunity to restore our oceans to abundance by putting new tools in place to spur public and private investment in fishing communities and sustainable fisheries. We must bring these tools to scale around the globe so that we can transform our oceans into a sustainable, enduring resource – one that provides more fish in the sea, more food on the plate, and more economic prosperity.

The ISU has spent the last two years working with experts in finance and fisheries to determine how best such tools could work.

Amongst those organizations searching for ways to bring finance to the types of projects that the report hopes to catalyse is The Nature Conservancy. “We are very focused on the critical need to find and deliver solutions that will help address complex marine issues, such as sustainable fishing, that sit at the intersection of development and marine conservation,” said Peter Wheeler, Executive Vice President at The Nature Conservancy. “We believe that financial innovation can play a key role in this effort and are therefore delighted to be a part of it. We are also pleased to announce that The Nature Conservancy, through its Nature Vest initiative, will offer over US$45million to support the structuring of investment in critical Marine Programs in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean using Blue Bonds and similar commercial approaches.”

The meeting will provide a timely reminder of how investment in so-called natural capital can be an effective way of achieving not only economic goals but also social and environmental ones. By taking an integrated approach toward the management of financial risk on the one hand, and the management of ecosystems on the other, the meeting will highlight how returns can be generated at the same time as enhancing food security and protecting jobs and the marine environment for future generations.

How does marine planning consider fisheries management?

Phil Haslam, Chief Executive Officer, Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, details the importance of fisheries and marine environmental management in relation to marine planning

Cornwall IFCAs fast patrol boat, St Piran ready to sail.

IFCAs (there are 10 around the English coastline) are responsible for protecting their marine inshore area.

Eastern IFCA recently welcomed the development of the MMO’s East Inshore and Offshore Marine Plans and in particular the development of specific policies on preservation of local fish stocks and the habitats on which these and other species depend.

Displacement is a key concern for fishers in our district, due to increasingly crowded inshore and coastal zones. We are pleased to see the inclusion of policies on displacement, co-existence (the shared habitation within a single area of several licensed activities) and full consideration of fishing activities whenever decisions on the future of our marine area are being made.

It’s also recognised that new applications for marine activity must assess their impact on fish spawning and nursery areas. These are vital for our coastline, which provides suitable inshore and estuarine habitat for juvenile sole, plaice, herring and mackerel. In addition, consideration of aquaculture development, given the existing importance of this industry to local fisheries and their dependence on good environmental quality, is very much welcomed.

We look forward to seeing further development of good working relationships between all public sector bodies responsible for regulating activities within (or affecting) the marine area. This is a crucial step in delivering the East Inshore and Offshore Marine Plans and Eastern IFCA is keen to liaise closely with our colleagues across the planning teams of relevant local authorities and use our expertise in marine environmental management to assist them in making informed regulatory decisions.

Finally, recognition of the UK’s growing network of Marine Protected Areas and the role they have to play in meeting national and international biodiversity and conservation targets is fundamental if we are to guarantee a successful approach to marine planning. In its role as a key regulator of European Marine Sites and Marine Conservation Zones in our district, Eastern IFCA looks forward to working with all partners and stakeholders in ensuring the effective delivery of the first of the UK’s innovative marine plans.

These are the views of the author and may not represent the views of the MMO.

Newlyn Coop explosion!

Photo courtesy of Edwin Hosking

Newlyn Coop suffered a huge explosion during the early hours of this morning which saw the windows blown out by the force of the blast. It is thought that there was a fire in the back of the premises which caused the fridge units to explode. Luckily this happened during the night when the shop was closed to shoppers and staff.