The big catch

Future of farming and fishing

FOUR YEARS to the week after Britain voted to leave the European Union, and almost a year since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, what does ‘taking back control’ mean?

Even though Britain left the EU last December, and that the 12-month transition period runs out at the end of this year, farmers and fishermen – who motivated Mr Johnson’s stance on Brexit – remain in limbo.

And assuming that the Government does not request an extension to this new deadline – June 30 is the cut-off point – Ministers face another race against time to get the necessary arrangements in place.

This is borne out by the concerns that Chris Haskins, a much respected farmer, entrepreneur and politician (and not necessarily in that order) articulates in today’s newspaper.

His is a must-read contribution – irrespective of one’s views on Brexit – if farm and food standards are not be to be compromised by a race to the bottom if the intended UK–US trade deal goes ahead as planned.

But there are also opportunities – such as the plans to promote Yorkshire, and Bridlington in particular, as Europe’s ‘lobster capital’.

For, while the 310 tonne of lobster caught by shell fishermen in the resort last year represent 17.5 per cent of the total catch in Europe, the vast majority are exported to France and Spain.

Yet here’s the irony: it leaves visitors to Bridlington sampling lobster from Canada, hence the work being done to reverse this so the region’s proud fishing industry can actually take back control of its destiny if the Government is ready to help UK fleets to flourish. And that’s the big catch...