In deep water
A few days ago, I discussed the stupidity of the Common Fisheries Policy and the low quotas that lead to fishermen having to throw back dead fish, mainly cod, that they are not able to land. Now, those diligent people at UKIP have found another aspect to all this.
Can we leave yet?
At a time when the government is pleading with the EU over cod quotas, the UK Independence Party has drawn attention to the fact that French fisherman are allowed to catch more than 10 times as much as British fishermen in the English Channel.
The EU grants France almost 79% of the Total Allowable Catch of Cod in the Channel, while British fishermen are left to fight over a mere 7%.
The crazy rules mean that British fishermen are forced to throw back almost a million tonnes of dead fish, mainly cod, every year.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP said that at the same time as our fish stocks were being massively depleted, the British fishing industry was being savaged, with more than a quarter of British fishermen leaving the industry in the last 10 years.
Mr Farage, who has been a member of the European Parliament fisheries committee for the past seven years, called the situation "an environmental and economic disaster".
...
Mr Farage said there had been a deafening silence from David Cameron, who not long ago had been talking about leaving the Common Fisheries Policy until it had been gently pointed out to him that this would mean leaving the EU altogether.
"In Genesis, it says that man should have 'dominion over the fish of the sea' but in 2007, it's apparently the European Commission,” Mr Farage added.
Can we leave yet?
Labels: environmentalism, EU, just not fucking funny, lunacy, stupidity, UKIP
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5 Blogger Comments:
That is a cracking statistic, and ought to be number 4 item on the school curriculum (after the 3 R's).
Why don't all our fihermen register their boats in France and then they can share the higher quota? Or doesn't free movement of trade and people extend to getting our snouts in the French trough?
I dont even think that is the main problem here - how stringent are the rules that enforce the French to fish the 70-odd% and then stop? Someone already pointed out in a previous post that the spanish fish the same waters and there are little or no checks when they come to land them, meaning they essentially get away with fraud.
Is an interesting concept, "conflict cod" isn't it? The diamonds of the sea...
"Mr Farage said there had been a deafening silence from David Cameron..."
Well, if anyone should know anything about wet, dead fish it's be Camoron...
We employ fucking hundreds of petty jobsworth twats to enforce EU directives, the French and the Spanish understand the national interest better, and simply report all is well back to Brussels.
We are fucking idiots, the French, Spanish and more are not.
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