CODSWALLOP
Fishermen blast post Brexit deal as quotas ‘don’t exist’
GOVERNMENT boasts about boosting fishing quotas after Brexit have been branded “codswallop”.
A Sunday Mirror investigation – using the Government’s own data and backed up by former officials – has revealed that £31.8million worth of extra fish promised in Parliament “don’t exist”.
That money should have come from a big rise in the quota for sole and plaice.
But James White, 38, a fisherman from Felixstowe, said: “They can increase the quota a hundred fold and we won’t be able to catch more. These fish don’t exist.”
Regaining control of British waters was a major part of the Leave campaign before Brexit. The Government claimed £146m worth of the fishing quota was taken back from the EU thanks to Brexit.
Fisheries minister Victoria Prentis last month confirmed the Government valued the 2021 post-Brexit North Sea sole quota boost at £13m, and £18.8m for plaice. But industry expert Terri Portmann, who advised MPs after Brexit, said: “The valuation is codswallop. Fishermen have been stitched up.”
Marine Management Organisation data shows UK fishermen have caught far under North Sea sole and plaice quotas since 2016, meaning data the deal was negotiated on is likely flawed.
Even the powerful Dutch fishing fleet is unable to catch its quota. The amount of North Sea sole UK fisherman can catch is up by 43%. But Mr White said: “The only reason the EU have given us any quota is because they can’t catch it themselves.” Increases for healthy stocks are tiny. The cod quota in the Western English Channel will rise 1%, with EU trawlers bagging 90% of fishing rights for five years. Quotas are negotiated by governments, based on estimates of fish stocks by scientists, to stop overfishing.
Rodney Anderson, former Defra director of fisheries, warned of an “ecological disaster”, adding: “Nobody in charge asked themselves, ‘Suppose the science is wrong?’” Peter Aldous, Conservative MP, said: “If we proceed in this way it will lead to chronic overfishing.”
Shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard said: “These fish exist only on spreadsheets as paper fish.”
Defra said negotiations are “based on the best available scientific advice”, adding that the £146m figure was calculated differently to the £31.8m figure.