Cornish hake achieves MSC recertification amid rising demand within UK and Europe

 

 

Cornish hake fishermen have many reasons to celebrate this week. Sales of the popular species are enjoying a resurgence, with growing demand for sustainable hake in the UK and across Europe, while the fishery was re-certified as ‘sustainable and well-managed’ yesterday (December 9) to the Marine Stewardship Council’s standard. Part of the UK sales growth in British hake is due to supermarket Waitrose selling the fresh fish across its counters as well as in the freezer aisle. 

Meanwhile, a recent report from the New Economics Foundation highlighted that Cornish hake received higher prices linked to its MSC certification, along with improved reputation and better access to markets. The report compared Cornish hake, which gained certification in 2015, with the non-certified Scottish hake data, prior to it also receiving MSC status in 2018. This demonstrates the value of managing fish stocks sustainably for Britain’s coastal communities, particularly as the UK enacts its own fishing legislation outside of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.

In 2015, the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) became the first in the UK to achieve MSC certification for its hake. Under the MSC’s rules, all fisheries must undergo recertification every five years. The Cornish hake stock was in a poor state in the late 1990s due to overfishing. Following stringent management and restrictions put in place, and thanks to efforts by fishermen, the hake stock increased rapidly between 2000-2017 and is now stable.

In order to gain their original certification, fishermen and members of the CFPO worked closely with scientists to better understand the challenges facing the fishery. One critical action undertaken was to develop the selectivity (1) of the fishery to target the right size fish - using nets that target larger hake, allowing smaller, juvenile fish to swim free.

Cornish fishermen land just under 2,000 tonnes of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) every year into Newlyn, using vessels ranging from under 12 metres to nearly 23 metres in length.

Paul Trebilcock, CEO of the Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation (CFPO), commented: “Achieving MSC recertification is a testament to the hard work, dedication and selectivity expertise of the fishing industry here in Cornwall. Our fishermen are committed to ensuring they meet the high standards for sustainable seafood that consumers have come to expect from our diverse fleet.” Katie Keay, Senior Fisheries Outreach Manager, UK & Ireland, said: “The fishermen catching MSC certified hake in Cornwall should be commended for their dedication to re-certifying their fishery. Through meeting the rigorous requirement of the latest MSC Standard they are demonstrating to the world their commitment to sustainability and protecting fish for future generations in Cornwall.” 

photo by Nigel Millard for MSC

Andy Boulton from Waitrose said: "We are committed to responsible seafood sourcing and as such have had a strategy on this for almost twenty years. We were the first supermarket to offer UK shoppers MSC certified Cornish hake back in 2016 and we continue to see demand grow. As well as having hake available fresh on our fish counters, we offer it in frozen pre-packs as well, giving our customers the option of great quality fish regardless of their preference.

"This year we won the MSC Fish Counter of the Year for the third year running thanks to having the largest range of MSC certified fish available on our counters. For us, supporting our British fishers is a top priority and it means we can always offer our customers the best in responsibly caught fish and seafood."

Award-winning seafood restaurateur and MSC ambassador Mitch Tonks, who champions Cornish hake in his Rockfish restaurant chain said the fish is “meaty, silky, juicy, versatile and easy to cook.”

“The Spanish love it and in the UK we seem to have followed that,” he added. “I like paprika and garlic with fish and think this is the perfect combination.”

Hake has also become increasingly popular as an alternative to cod and haddock in UK fish and chip shops.

Craig Maw, of Kingfisher Fish & Chips in Plympton, Devon, said: “In previous summers, we have offered MSC-certified Cornish hake as a special which is really popular. Customers love that it’s not only sustainable but caught so locally. It’s similar to cod but slightly milder and sweeter and personally, I think it makes some of the best fish and chips there is.” 

 photo by Nigel Millard for MSC

Cornish hake featured in this year’s MSC consumer awareness campaign, ‘What it Takes’ which highlighted the hard work of the fishermen in bringing sustainable seafood from ocean to plate and in the MSC UK’s first Sustainable Seafood Week this past September.

Taking back control – of what, and for who? A reality fact-check.

 

The current UK catching sector employs circa 12,000 fishermen, about the same number of employees as Debenhams and contributes around 0.02% of GDP, generating about the same GVA as Peppa Pig merchandise. There have been numerous comparisons with this figure with everything from potatoes to prostitution, all of which ignore the reality that fishing provides much needed employment in often vulnerable coastal communities, puts food on the table in the UK, provides a level of food security for an island nation and all this is mixed in with a good dose of sovereignty, taking back control and so on.

But drill a bit deeper and things are sometimes not quite so clear cut. Despite claims to the contrary by large scale representatives, when it suits them, that it is all one industry, the facts don’t quite fit with this narrative. The UK fleet is made up of 5,911 boats, 21% of which are more than 10 metres in length and 79 %, 4,670, of ten metres and under, the ‘under ten fleet’. In terms of access to fishing opportunities [quota], the under ten fleet has less than 2% with the large scale sector taking the remaining 98%+ share. 

There are two ancillary points of interest in this respect, firstly that something over 50% of the UK’s national quota is owned by foreign interests, with one Dutch super-trawler company owning 25% and secondly that the under ten fleet were never permitted to own their own quota, unlike the larger scale operators who sold it. There is an oft used argument that the majority of the small scale fleet rely on non quota species such as, lobster, crab and Bass and have neither the need nor often the ability to pursue quota species, mainly fin fish such as cod, herring, mackerel, haddock and sole, to any extent. Whilst it is true that circa 80% of small boats use passive gears such as fixed nets and pots and catch mainly shellfish, many of them have been forced into these non quota species due to the lack of access to quota species. It is also the case of course that smaller boats are very much more limited in their ability to travel significant distances from their home port, making it much more important to look after the fish on the doorstep rather than be able to denude an area of fish and simply move on to the next.

In terms of fish, we import around 70% of what we consume and export around the same figure of that which we catch. The UK is a net importer of fish, with imports exceeding exports. The UK’s trade gap in 2019 for sea fish was 270 thousand tonnes. In 2019, the UK imported 721 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3,457 million and exported 452 thousand tonnes with a value of £2,004 million [MMO fleet statistics].

A key aspect here, often overwhelmed in the media by the promise of more quota in the gold rush heralded by the much vaunted ‘Sea of Opportunity’ is that the majority of fishermen in this country rely more on the currently seamless transport of live shellfish to markets in Europe than more quota, fair and helpful though it might be. It seems ever clearer that UK / EU supply chains in this respect are in real danger of grinding to a halt come 2021, with potentially massive economic damage being inflicted on this sector. 

Tariffs could wipe out what profit is currently made, the easiest deal in history seems to have evaporated in the cold hard light of day with a need from day one for catch and health certificates along with a literal tsunami of paperwork, amounting to hundreds of forms per consignment, all of which have to have every last ‘t’ crossed and ‘I’ dotted in order to pass the scrutiny of EU customs officials, many of whom will no doubt feel the need to ensure that the UK is indeed treated as a third country. We may well have improved fish based food security from 2021 but it will be mainly due to the fact that there will be a surfeit of fish and shellfish available due to the loss of markets in the EU. The fact that the British public don’t really eat many of the species we export is really going to have to change. Cuttlefish and chips anyone?

Logistically, even at this late stage, there are significant gaps in the required infrastructure and the much publicised forthcoming queues of trucks likely to be blocking the routes into and out of not just Dover but also Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and other ports are only going to add to the challenges facing exporters of perishable products such as fresh fish and especially live shellfish that cannot survive for long even in the aerated water tanks that they travel in. Despite appeals from both the catching and processing sectors of the fishing industry [workforce of latter currently 50% EU nationals] that the skills based criteria for workers from third countries should include those in these two sectors, the government has turned them down. The larger scale fishing sector claim that they are reliant on being able to employ Non EAA crews in the absence of being able to attract indigenous workers to the boats. This has resulted in the sourcing of a significant proportion of fishing crews from third countries, with a more recent shift from mainly eastern European to those from the Far East.

Whilst there are some foreign workers employed on smaller vessels, the majority are on bigger boats and, together with the high level of foreign ownership of UK quota, begs two questions.

Where is and what level of actual economic benefit accrues to the UK when the larger scale fleet not only sold off half the national quota to foreign interests but also just how much income from fishing actually comes back to coastal communities when many crews send back the majority of the earnings to their families abroad?

Whilst it is laudable that foreign crews are keen to come here to improve their incomes, not surprisingly they send the majority of it back home to their families, reducing the net benefit to the UK’s coastal communities from fishing. So fishing may generate £987m overall but half goes abroad straightaway and a proportion of the rest is wired back to the far east. The profit margins of the large scale fleet, notwithstanding Covid impacts are among the highest in Europe yet despite this, there is a suspicion that some owners of larger vessels are crying crocodile tears all the way to the bank at having to employ cheaper and more compliant foreign crews than their local equivalents.

On this basis, it is clear that the majority of the 79% of the UK fleet that are the under tens provide more direct economic and social benefits per tonne of fish to coastal communities, despite having access to only a paltry allocation of quota.

It is also worth noting that the fishing methods used by this sector and the different species targeted mean that they typically gain higher than average prices for their catch and fish in a lower impact way. And all of the above is against a sometimes dramatic fall in stock and catch levels over many years. According to MMO data, in 2019, landings of demersal fish were only around a fifth of the quantity landed in 1970 and to put the current argument over the imbalance of access to Cod in the English Channel into perspective, where the French have 84% and the UK only 9%, scientific advice for the last two years has been for a zero catch due to the fragile status of the stock. It is something of a contradiction in terms to be fighting for a better share of a stock that is not available to catch in the first place. In conclusion, short of kicking all foreign boats out of the UK’s territorial waters from January 1st [unlikely to happen in real terms], what are the wins that would really make a difference to UK PLC AND maintain access to our vital EU markets?

Despite having had the best part of four years to negotiate and come to terms, we are no nearer a resolution to many of these issues. At the same time, there is little doubt that the EU in general, the coastal states and their fishermen in particular that currently have historic access to our waters would react savagely by putting up both tariff and non tariff barriers in the event that we arbitrarily pulled up the drawbridge on their fleets. At the same time, promises are meant to be kept so a rapid revision of current access and quota shares, over perhaps just one or two years, starting in 2021 would give everyone time to reorganise their sectors to take account of this new regime. It is a fact that the UK’s current catching capacity would struggle to take advantage of wholesale revisions from day one so a timed and timely shift would seem to suit all players. This would provide increased quota for genuinely UK vessels and support a move towards attracting, training and employing indigenous crews. It is vital that a significant element of the promised windfall quota is directed to the under ten fleet. At the same time, this is the one and only opportunity that the government has to be able to balance the books between the sectors without having to rob Peter to pay Paul and kickstart the urgently needed renaissance of inshore fishing and coastal communities.

Currently many EU vessels claim extended historic access rights to our waters between the 6 and 12 mile lines. This has a number of negative impacts, not least the presence of a host of powerful factory trawlers and beam trawlers on the 6 mile line preventing fish from moving inshore and within reach of the smaller scale fleet and preventing UK inshore boats from deploying passive fishing gear [nets, pots and lines] outside the 6 mile line as they are likely to get towed away. Removing this foreign effort, in conjunction with more proactive fisheries management for larger UK vessels in this zone would provide a much needed extension to the grounds currently available to our under ten metre fleet.

At the same time, a stricter licensing regime for any EU vessels seeking to access our waters would ensure adherence to the revised requirements. This should also be applied to the significant fleet of flag ships, vessels that are registered in the UK but whose beneficial ownership is elsewhere. Thatcher attempted to do this via the Merchant Shipping Act but failed by contravening the EU equal access regulations, resulting in the Factortame Case. If the UK is no longer in the EU then those regulations no longer apply.

There have been a number of promises made to the fishing industry both before and since the referendum. Apart from those above, the industry will need a replacement for the EU funds presently directed at the fishing and processing sectors [value in England of last EU support scheme [EMFF]: €92.1m] and not least to support the regeneration of inshore fishing and coastal communities, the underpinning science and effective management. Arguably, the most important promise made has been with respect to the introduction of ‘world leading fisheries management’. 

As previously noted, fish stocks overall have declined massively, for a range of reasons, over many decades. Despite having had huge improvements in fishing efficiency through engines, electronics, net materials and so on, we currently use 17 times the fishing effort to catch the same amount of fish that we did on 1900.Unless management does indeed improve dramatically then rather like the current situation for Channel Cod, we will have the fisheries equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb.

Finally, the government appears to have painted itself into something of a corner, not helped by the EU seeking to link fishing with wider trade issues. The balancing act that our negotiator’s now face is centred around just how they manage to keep to the promises they have made, outlined above, whilst at the same time ensuring that the EU doesn’t close its shop front to the thousands of UK fishermen who rely on that market for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, the survival and prosperity of the UK’s catching sector, especially but not exclusively the under tens and those reliant on EU export markets hangs in the balance.

Full story courtesy of Jerry Percy at NUTFA.

Joint statement by the co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee - protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland

 

The co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committee – European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and the UK Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Michael Gove – yesterday held a political meeting to address the outstanding issues related to the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. Ensuring that the Withdrawal Agreement, in particular the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, is fully operational at the end of the transition period, i.e. as of 1 January 2021, is essential. The Protocol protects the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement in all its dimensions, maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the island of Ireland.

Following intensive and constructive work over the past weeks by the EU and the UK, the two co-chairs can now announce their agreement in principle on all issues, in particular with regard to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

An agreement in principle has been found in the following areas, amongst others: Border Control Posts/Entry Points specifically for checks on animals, plants and derived products, export declarations, the supply of medicines, the supply of chilled meats, and other food products to supermarkets, and a clarification on the application of State aid under the terms of the Protocol.

The parties have also reached an agreement in principle with respect to the decisions the Joint Committee has to take before 1 January 2021. In particular, this concerns the practical arrangements regarding the EU's presence in Northern Ireland when UK authorities implement checks and controls under the Protocol, determining criteria for goods to be considered “not at risk” of entering the EU when moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the exemption of agricultural and fish subsidies from State aid rules, the finalisation of the list of chairpersons of the arbitration panel for the dispute settlement mechanism so that the arbitration panel can start operating as of next year, as well as the correction of errors and omissions in Annex 2 of the Protocol.

In view of these mutually agreed solutions, the UK will withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK Internal Market Bill, and not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill.

Next steps This agreement in principle and the resulting draft texts will now be subject to respective internal procedures in the EU and in the UK. Once this is done, a fifth regular meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee will be convened to formally adopt them. This will take place in the coming days and before the end of the year.

Download the Joint statement by the co-chairs of the EU-UK Joint Committe

Ireland to drive down discards through research.

New technologies may help skippers avoid unwanted catches Fishing Boat. Photo courtesy of the Marine Institute. Scientists at the Marine Institute are investigating how new technologies could be used to share real-time information and help skippers avoid unwanted catches. The IFISH (Irish Fisheries Information Sharing Network Development) project, funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is encouraging fishers to participate in the project and assist in developing a useful information sharing tool for the industry.

New technology is increasingly being used to assist skippers avoid unwanted catches, but is yet to be used in Irish fisheries. Co-operative schemes and mobile phone applications are being developed in fisheries across the world from the USA to Scotland, to help skippers receive up to date information on the location of fish, to assist in avoiding juvenile or quota limited species. The new BATmap app, for example, is being trialed by Scottish fishers to help avoid choke species in west of Scotland fisheries (https://info.batmap.co.uk/).

The IFISH project will build on the research conducted as part of the DiscardLess project, which resulted in the development of a discard hotspot mapping app (https://shiny.marine.ie/discardless).

The IFISH project will move beyond producing static maps of fish distributions based on historic catch patterns and look at how information sharing among the Irish fleet could help provide real time information on the location of fish that fishers don't want to catch, such as undersize juveniles, to assist skippers in avoiding them.

Julia Calderwood, scientist at the Marine Institute said, "At this early stage of the project, we are really keen to talk to anyone who is willing to share their experiences and opinions on how effective different fishing tactics are at avoiding unwanted catches, as well as how sharing information on the location of unwanted catches may potentially help in further avoiding them." 

Industry involvement in the IFISH project is key to help co-design information sharing tools and ensure they are developed to assist in avoiding problematic catches, whatever they may be locally or within particular fisheries. By working with partners in a number of different fisheries it will also be possible to set up separate information sharing networks in different fisheries or regions, rather than taking a broad approach.

"Industry input is really important to help shape this research so that we can ensure that we are addressing industry needs and concerns and to ensure any output from this work is useful and relevant," Julia Calderwood said.

The use of any developed tools will be completely voluntary, with skippers only taking part if they feel it would be useful, and all information shared would be private and only available to skippers using the tool.

For more information or to participate in the IFISH project please contact Julia Calderwood at julia.calderwood@marine.ie 

Full story from the Marine Institute.

Newlyn's Monday morning's fish market.

The weekend saw a mixed landing of fish from beam and inshore trawlers which included a few boxes of haddock...

some late season John Dory...

plenty of spotted dogfish that go for crab boat bait...

though it might come as a surprise to Roger to find tat he is using gill nets on his inshore trawler Immy...

good to see young Mr Bacon bringing home some mackerel from the bay...

plenty more handy-sized haddock...

and a good run of ray...

in addition to a good landing of hake the Silver Dawn landed a good proportion of his spurdog quota for the year...

looks like there's another foreign boat landing today - part of the Brexit deal will be an expectation that UK Flagged vessels will have to land 80% of their annual catch AND put it on the open market as opposed to transporting 90% of the fish they catch back to their own country as they do at present.

Fisheries APPG’s latest event promotes fishing safety

 

On Tuesday 1st December, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries held its final online event of 2020, on the subject of Staying Safe at Sea. The event heard from fishermen, technologists, communications experts and legislators, all of whom are working to make fishing a safer profession.

Fishing can be a high-stakes profession. Vessels capsizing or fishermen falling overboard, although relatively rare events in themselves, can often end in fatality. Because the stakes are so high, maximising fishing safety is crucial. “Fishing safety is an issue very close to my heart,” said Sheryll Murray MP, Chair of the APPG on Fisheries, who chaired the event. “It was fantastic to hear such passionate speakers discussing how we can make the industry as safe as possible, so that fishermen are more aware of the dangers they face.”

“Fishing is the most dangerous industry in the UK,” said Katy Ware, Director of UK Maritime Services, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, who spoke at the event. “The MCA can raise standards through regulation, training, and education within the industry, and we hope that safety awareness will be increased as a result. However, this will not work unless vessel owners ask themselves: can I do this safer, have I done everything I can to protect myself and my crew?”

Direct outreach can bring significant benefits to fishing safety. Denise Fraser, Head of Communications at Seafish, spoke about the work of the Fishing Industry Safety Group’s Home and Dry media campaign. “The fishing industry is having more conversations about safety at sea than ever before and I think we’ll start to see that culture change,” said Denise. “We’re trying to change generations of habits and attitudes so it will take time, but it’s going in the right direction.” Denise said the success of the campaign was due to a new coordinated approach - focusing on the benefits to be gained by maximising fishing safety.

Efforts at the regional level are also having a significant impact. Clive Palfrey, Regional Safety Adviser for Seafood Cornwall Training, spoke about how he interacts directly with fishermen on the quayside to stimulate engagement with safety concerns. His conversations revolve around safety matters such as best practice, compliance with regulations, and the health and wellbeing of crew members - making fishermen aware of the issues and opportunities where they can take action.

Looking for inspiration from other sectors could help bring about benefits for fishing safety. “Fishing safety has been improving, and can be developed further, by utilising techniques used in other industries, such as oil and gas,” said Kenneth Smith, Director of Hook Marine Ltd, who spoke about vessel stability technology. “We must develop the barriers which will stop accidents, including improvements in design, education, training, maintenance, examination and testing of vessels and equipment.”

Technologies that bring about substantial safety benefits do exist, but for reasons such as lack of resources or information, they are not always taken up by fishermen. “The biggest possible positive impact for fishing safety would be the reduction in the gap between safety equipment innovation and access to that equipment for the vessels and crew,” said Sean McCrystal, Senior Marketing Manager for Orolia Maritime, who manufacture Search and Rescue beacons.

Finding the time and resources for training can be an obstacle, especially since the fishing industry needs to make the most of fair weather to go to sea. “There are not enough safety providers or training courses, and those that do exist often fall at a time that fishermen are away at sea,” said John Clark, skipper of the Reliance III. At the event, John spoke about how his personal experience going overboard meant he went ‘above and beyond’ the current legislative requirements to fit his new vessel with safety measures, such as a winch guard and a clip-on safety rail for crew members. “If we are to attract new entrants into the fishing industry, we need to have a better understanding of safety and to provide a safe working environment.”

The event was recorded and is available on the APPG website, along with a summary of the panelists’ answers to questions from attendees. The APPG Secretariat will also publish a policy brief detailing the outputs and key messages for the event in the coming weeks. The APPG on Fisheries’ next event will take place in the New Year. Sign up to their newsletter to be the first to hear about the event launch.

BORIS JOHNSON’S EDWARD HEATH MOMENT 5TH DECEMBER 2020 IN BREXIT

 

The NFFO takes stock of the negotiations for a UK/EU fisheries deal, after the remaining issues blocking a deal have been elevated to the political realm

The announcement that no further progress can be made in negotiations towards an agreement on the future UK/EU relationship, by the chief negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, comes as no surprise. The gulf between the two sides on fisheries has been huge and seems to have widened in recent days.

In the negotiations, the EU side has moved only millimetres from its original mandate which insists that the only acceptable terms for a trade agreement would be a humiliating surrender by the UK on fisheries. And it would be a huge capitulation. Under the conditions insisted upon by the EU, EU fleets would essentially retain the automatic access to fish in UK waters and hold the status quo on quota shares. To agree to these conditions would be to deny the UK’s legal status as an independent coastal state and render the UK’s departure from the EU as utterly worthless, so far as fisheries are concerned. Even the right to control its own waters inside its own 12-mile limit would be surrendered. On quota shares, be reminded that the UK share of Channel cod is 9%; the French share is 84%.

A compromise is on offer. The UK would agree to reasonable levels of access for EU fleets to fish in UK waters outside the 12-mile limit – in return for a rebalance of quota shares and recognition that the UK will act as any other coastal state, to maintain control over who fishes in its waters. The EU’s offer on quota shares has been risible and the EU will only accept terms that would neuter the UK’s rights as an independent coastal state. Hence the impasse.

The two parties will now take stock and consult with their political masters. We can expect that the phone lines between the capitals will be busy. The stakes are high:

A free trade deal which is in everyone’s interest The future of a UK fishing industry that has been tied for 40 years into an asymmetric and exploitative relationship with the EU The presidency of France and the future of Europe as Macron faces re-election in April 2022 The future, and legacy of the British Prime Minister, elected to get one job done. All hang in the balance. On fish, Boris Johnson knows that this is his Ted Heath moment.

No Deal

Leaving aside the unlikely, and frankly suicidal, possibility that the Prime Minister accepts the EU’s conditions of surrender, two possibilities occur. The other member states might curb President Macron’s Versailles-like surrender terms and a reasonable compromise could be reached in the next few days. Alternatively, there could be an acceptance that a trade deal is not achievable at this juncture. There is no disguising that this would carry serious adverse implications for both the UK and many EU member states. Tariffs would apply and trade between the UK and the EU would be conducted on less advantageous WTO terms.

No deal would also mean that the EU will immediately enter negotiations with the UK (and where they have an interest, with Norway) for an annual fisheries agreement for 2021, with no prior guarantee that EU fleets would have access to fish any part of UK waters from 1st January. Negotiations for an annual fisheries agreement (as opposed to the framework agreement under discussion) would normally have been approaching conclusion by this stage in the year. In the absence of a fisheries agreement for 2021, something like 3000 EU fishing vessels will have no legal access to fish in UK waters, until there is an agreement. The EU faced something like this a number of years ago when Morocco closed its waters to the EU fleets.

The EU is exerting every muscle to thwart the UK’s legal right under international law as a coastal state to harvest the resources within its exclusive economic zone. The reason why is clear. EU fleets benefit massively from the asymmetrical arrangements agreed in 1973 and again in 1983, with the introduction of quotas.

It is, however, the balance of domestic politics, particularly in France, that prevents the EU from gracefully accepting this landmark change in the legal and political realities.

It is also the balance of domestic politics that ensures that the UK Prime Minister is highly unlikely to follow Ted Heath in sacrificing the fishing industry, which has a huge totemic significance for those who voted to leave the EU.

Full story courtesy of the NFFO website.