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1/ Once we regain control of our waters, I don’t just want to see our fishing industry rejuvenated, I also want us to repair the terrible damage that the EU’s CFP has done to our fish stocks.
A short w/e rumination to illustrate my point.
A short w/e rumination to illustrate my point.
2/ Long before I was a teenager, I was mad about sea angling. By today’s closeted standards, my parents were astonishingly brave and allowed me to go out unaccompanied for 8-hour fishing trips in open Yorkshire cobles like the one above
.
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3/ From the age of 9, stricken by sea sickness, in all weathers and seas (and without a life jacket 
) I would dangle a line in the North Sea’s abundant waters several miles off Flamborough Head and I loved it.
) I would dangle a line in the North Sea’s abundant waters several miles off Flamborough Head and I loved it.
4/ In the 70s, the fish were prolific. It was almost guaranteed that as soon as your lead weight reached the bottom, the bait would be grabbed by a hungry cod or haddock.
5/ On most trips, I would literally stagger along the pier to meet my dad, struggling along with a string of cod and haddock almost too heavy to carry and with the twine cutting into my hands.
6/ Further education and working life intervened, and it was 20 years before I had the time to return to sea to indulge my passion. And, of course, there was nothing left to catch. It was all fished out.
7/ It wasn’t just a bad day either. I have tried many times since with the same result: a small codling or 2 if I am lucky. Even the offshore wrecks are now largely barren of stocks.
8/ What a disaster this has been, not just for angling but for those trying to scrape a living from the sea. The EU Common Fisheries Policy has consistently prioritised over-fishing above good husbandry and conservation of a sustainable resource.
9/ Its crass terms have encouraged our seas to be plundered. Yes, we have fished it too, but the British fleet has shrunk beyond recognition during the period and it is foreign boats with their questionable techniques that have profited and encouraged an ecological disaster.
10/ So, yes, let’s take back control and allow our fishermen to grow their industry. But let’s also design sensible rules that encourage long term sustainability of the fishery and might even spare a fish or two for an empty-handed angler.
Tight lines.
/End
Tight lines.
/End
