Fishing Waters Giveaway - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Fishing Waters Giveaway – Letter from Paul Gilson, Undercliff Gardens, Leigh.

Fishing Waters Giveaway - Letter from Paul Gilson, Undercliff Gardens, Leigh.

LETTER from Paul Gilson, Undercliff Gardens, Leigh.

This weekend I have been in Dunkirk with the Little Ships, to commemorate the evacuation of English, French and Belgian soldiers from France in 1940. The boats who undertook that brave mission were not all gentlemen’s yachts or warships: many were fishing boats.

The previous week, we celebrated VE Day and remembered the contributions of the UK fishing fleet to the war effort. Fish was not rationed and fishermen, despite the risks, still went to sea to catch fish and feed the nation. 80 years on, however, our government has again given away our fishing waters to other nations, for what appears to be no more than small political gains.

The deal has been trumpeted as a success. Our colleagues in the aquaculture sector may possibly see some benefits: if later talks go well, the UK may again be able to export bivalve molluscs, oysters and mussels without the health checks that appeared to have been put in place just for spite when we left the EU. Sadly, their gain – if it happens – will bring nothing at all to fishermen and it will have been bought at a very high cost.

There is nothing here to benefit Leigh, locally caught fish a thing of the past, condemned to history.

The fishing industry feels betrayed. Many fishermen’s associations like the one I belong to, The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, have worked with the Marine Management Organisation, Defra and two successive Secretaries of State, on plans for the future of our industry.

We had expected that future to involve control of our waters in a way that had not been possible since the early 1970s. This week, that future was taken away from us.

This was not just about catching fish, but also protecting the marine environment. We have been collaborating on Fishery Management Plans for individual species, and Marine Protected Areas to safeguard specific marine habitats. These plans are now in tatters. So much very good combined work, by so many committed individuals, wasted.

None of this was taken into account. Much time has been spent by commentators, trying to diminish the value of fishing to the UK, by pointing out how few fishermen are left. All of the secondary jobs created by the industry – engineering, marketing, transport, shipbuilding, net making and many more – have been ignored. Our contribution doesn’t end there: tourists, holiday makers and day trippers flock to active fishing ports to eat, drink and take in the experience of a working harbour, thus creating even more employment and keeping coastal communities alive. The new and expanding catch and release tuna fishery is giving another boost to local economies on the south coast.

The present administration seems to have abandoned its promises to champion food security. The fishing industry produces tens of millions of portions of food every year, with among the lowest carbon footprints of any form of protein, and it has the potential to do far more, but they are failing to support that. Our government is set on covering land and sea with wind turbines, taking food production areas out of action.

At sea it is becoming clearer that wind turbines are in fact damaging the very environment that HMG says it is trying to protect. A recent report from ICES – the most authoritative marine science body in the world – is less than complementary of the offshore power industry.

On the morning of the announcement of the “deal”, a French journalist contacted me. “Paul your government has capitulated to the EU”. I could only agree.

Did all those men we lost in 1940 to secure our independence die in vain?

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