Here’s how to rebuild Britain’s fishing EU trawlers industry ‘can fish in UK after Brexit’
GIVEN that his father was a fish merchant, I was amazed at Michael Gove’s statement that our fishing industry is too small to harvest all of Britain’s fish stocks, so vessels from other countries should be allowed in our waters after Brexit (Mail). Yes, the fishing industry is a fraction of the size it was 45 years ago, but now is the time to correct this. I was a trawler owner in Fleetwood when prime minister Edward Heath told us we had nothing to fear about joining the EU. Weeks later, he gave away the fishing rights to gain entry, which should have been a bargaining tool. Is it going to happen again with this Government? In the Seventies, Hull was the biggest fishing port in the world, followed by Grimsby, Fleetwood, Aberdeen and Peterhead. Grimsby and Hull were also the largest frozen fish processors, but today their plants are supplied with fish from Iceland and Norway. I’m sure they would jump at the chance to buy fish from British ports again. To raise the capital to rebuild the trawler fleet, I suggest a government fishing licence. This would be open to the EU, too, but the fishing allowance for non-British trawlers would be decided by the Government. The money raised could fund grants and low-interest loan payments to encourage the building of trawlers and finance fishery protection vessels. With the example of large funds raised in the Falklands, the Government knows the income that can be made from licences. In 1932, my father and uncles brought their trawlers from Buckie in Scotland to Fleetwood, and I later owned four trawlers named after my mother, wife and two sons. There were once more than 130 trawlers operating out of Fleetwood; now there are none. With so many claiming benefits, Fleetwood and Grimsby are two of our most depressed areas. Even after 40 years they have not got over the shock of losing the fishing industry. We need to give people back their dignity; they have the right to earn a decent living.
JAMES WILSON, Ferndown, Dorset.