{"id":2894,"date":"2016-03-25T09:44:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T09:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=2894"},"modified":"2025-12-27T13:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T13:24:08","slug":"brexit-would-be-a-fishy-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2016\/03\/brexit-would-be-a-fishy-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit would be a rotten fish policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fish is as tasty and popular as ever, but no one seems to like the policies that regulate the industry behind it. For decades, European management of fisheries has been lambasted by fishers, conservationists and scientists, including<\/a> us<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centrepiece of this system, the EU\u2019s Common Fisheries Policy, is particularly unpopular. Some scientists even argue it is designed to fail<\/a>. Opponents blame it for not only mismanaging Europe\u2019s highly productive seas, but also for giving away \u201cour fish\u201d, with the subject recently taking centre stage in an unlikely viral Brexit campaign video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think that the chance to take back control of the fish in UK seas would be one of the most solid reasons to vote \u201cOut\u201d in June\u2019s referendum on EU membership. So what\u2019s the catch?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the idea that fish in British waters have been fished into near-extinction by pesky foreign boats simply doesn\u2019t match up with reality. At least not anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, fish numbers aren\u2019t what they were in the time of Moby Dick. However, a recent analysis of 118 years of statistics<\/a> revealed the vast majority of the decline occurred prior to the Common Fisheries Policy\u2019s implementation in 1983. In fact, the policy is now overall helping, not harming<\/a>, the country\u2019s fisheries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since EU policy was reformed in 2002, the health of many fish stocks has improved<\/a>. By 2011 the majority of assessed fisheries were considered to be sustainably fished. Take the case of North Sea cod: once the \u201cposter child\u201d for overfishing and all that was wrong with European policy, it is now recovering strongly and likely to be certified as sustainable<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU is now phasing out the discarding<\/a> of unwanted fish and setting quotas more in line with scientific advice<\/a>. The aim is to ensure maximum sustainable yield of all stocks by 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who actually owns \u201cour\u201d fish?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ownership of UK fishing quotas is controversial and often misunderstood. After total EU fishing limits are decided by the Council of fisheries ministers, it is up to each member state to distribute its share among its own fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an EU decision. The fact that a single giant Dutch-owned vessel<\/a> nets a quarter of the English quota (6% of the UK total) might be shocking, especially considering the UK\u2019s quota is in theory shared between more than 6,000 vessels<\/a>, but the UK government could easily change how it allocates fish. In fact, the alternative allocation systems suggested by some pro-Brexit groups<\/a> are already in place elsewhere in Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your plaice or mine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another common argument for Brexit is that it would give the UK sole control<\/a> of the fish in its waters. However, these fish are not \u201cBritish\u201d<\/a>; they don\u2019t respect national boundaries. Mackerel, herring, cod<\/a> and other commercial species are all highly mobile<\/a>, and move easily across borders, especially in places such as the North, Celtic and Irish Seas, where \u201cexclusive economic zones\u201d are jammed together like sardines in a can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So unlike more isolated countries such as Iceland and Norway, the UK was always going to have to share its fish with its neighbours, especially as we moved into an era of global maritime regulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fencing out foreign fishermen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A post-Brexit UK might still have to agree quotas with its neighbours, but could it prevent foreign boats from fishing in its waters? Maybe. But only with huge investment in monitoring and control public bodies such as the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) \u2013 organisations which are being cut<\/a> at present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the UK would want this sort of escalation is a different question, as it would also mean British boats could no longer fish in the waters of other European nations. This is a major concern<\/a> in the fishing industry as 20% of the fish caught by the UK fleet is landed elsewhere in the EU<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that a Brexit would require a complete re-negotiation of fishing rights, with uncertain outcomes. Some of these rights extend back to the Middle Ages<\/a> and banning foreign vessels from UK waters may well be incompatible with international law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such negotiations may harm trading relationships with Europe. At present the UK exports around 80% of its wild-caught seafood, with four of the top five destinations<\/a> being European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remaining in the EU also has big benefits for the marine ecosystems that the fishing industry ultimately relies on. The Habitats Directive<\/a> protects key habitats and species such as reefs and Atlantic salmon, while the Water Framework Directive<\/a> and Marine Strategy Framework Directive<\/a> commit EU members to restore and protect the environment. It seems unlikely<\/a> that the UK\u2019s current Conservative government, at least, would continue similarly progressive measures after a Brexit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise the \u201cIn\u201d campaign is gaining support<\/a> from a range of environmental groups \u2013 the weight of evidence is on their side. In contrast, many fishermen have strong feelings about the EU<\/a>, but the main industry organisations and decision makers are remaining<\/a> neutral<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve come a long way since the bad old days of excessive quotas and widespread illegal fishing. As things become more sustainable, fish numbers are rebounding, leading to increasing UK fishing quotas<\/a> and growing profits<\/a> (now the highest in the EU<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post, co-authored by Griffin Carpenter of NEF\/Oxford Brookes University, was first published at The Conversation<\/a> and is reproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo of trawler leaving Ullapool CC BY-SA 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking back control of fisheries policy – and “our” fish – is a key demand of Brexiteers in their quest for restored national sovereignty. But the fish don’t respect national borders and, anyway, the UK is free to distribute its own quotas. The EU is helping to replenish stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[421],"tags":[31,30],"class_list":["post-2894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-eu-referendum","tag-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18094,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2894\/revisions\/18094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}