As the government battles the virus we need more wins and optimism elsewhere. We need to get on with the great Brexit wins now we are free to set our own laws and taxes.
This is now crucial for our fishing industry who feel let down. There is scope for major growth in investment and jobs. The immediate task is to protect our fish stocks from plunder by aggressive foreign industrial trawlers, and to help the UK build capacity to fish the grounds in a sustainable way landing much more fish here in the UK. This requires
- A ban on super large industrial trawlers. The Agriculture Department says there is no definition of a supertrawler . There can be. You could ban all boats of over 100 metres in length, or all boats of over 5000 deadweight tonnes. This would remove the huge Russian and Dutch vessels which dominate and leave more fish for our smaller boats. This would be very popular, and supported by Green groups.
- Cheap loan and grant schemes to build new under 100m boats for our expanded fishery in UK yards, and a scheme to allow purchase of second hand vessels from abroad which can also increase capacity. With interest rates so low for the government it would be easy to offer soft loans with long repayment dates to get new fishing people involved.
- Use available regional and development grant regimes to encourage harbour expansion around our coasts at suitable fishing locations.
- Speed up Freeports and Enterprise Zones, allotting enough to fishing areas and use them to attract new and additional fish and food processing.
- Help the UK fishing industry establish new markets for UK fish by adding value, using the fish in ready meals and frozen products, sending much more to fish hungry Asia.
- For shipping generally, reverse the Factortame ECJ judgement, restoring a minimum UK ownership requirement for UK flagged vessels.
- Draw up with our shipping industry improvements to requirements for the UK shipping Register to encourage expansion without diluting labour or safety standards.
January 20, 2021
Good morning
I like the new site.
January 20, 2021
Dear Mark–I deprecate those brightly coloured adverts for Sir John’s books zipping in and out on the right–Twice now in only minutes of experience of the new site I have been distractaed away from actually reading and payimg attention to the site and have had to refind where I was, losing the thread–Or are they to keep one awake at an early hour?
January 20, 2021
What a mealy mouthed response. No fun in your life then.
January 21, 2021
More to Dear Nig–Mealy mouthed: “Afraid to say what one really thinks”. Huh?
January 20, 2021
Indeed. Agapanthus to die for. I wonder if the picture will change regularly?
January 21, 2021
I assume that picture was not taken in Wokingham. The whole constituency has been concreted over with new houses everywhere.
January 20, 2021
Me too.
It is easier to read and to post this .
January 20, 2021
Two criticism though.
1. The search bar in the top right disappears when certain pictures roll up.
2. Those pictures. Anyone would think that this is either a gardening website and / or a colleague of Caroline Lucas MP. Some nice pictures of Wokingham and Parliament would be better methinks. More in keeping with the blog / diary/
January 20, 2021
I love the agapanthus and the seascape. Can’t a Conservative statesman have blue?
January 20, 2021
Another political website with a picture of the mother of parliaments: no thank you.
January 21, 2021
I was thinking of newcomers to this site. They might get the wrong impression. They may think our kind host is issuing gardening tips and not serious political issues.
Reply I wanted to use some of my photos of neutral backgrounds to make the point that this is not an MP website And I do not wish to be typecast.These are just photos of beautiful England.
January 21, 2021
You took these ? Bloody good job mate. Seriously!
January 21, 2021
Dear Forthurst–It is England that is the Mother of Parliaments
January 21, 2021
perhaps views from around Emmbrook, the mounds of earth excavated, building vehicles and skeleton homes are worthy of Constable…
January 21, 2021
The comment threading is visible (right tabs) in Windows but is non-existent in Chrome on Android.
January 20, 2021
By far the biggest market for our fresh fish exports is the EU27. That will not change, you can only sell fresh fish to your nearest neighbour, and not only is frozen fish worth less than fresh, shipping it to the other side of the world adds huge costs. But Brexit has caused immense red tape, and slow and costly health checks on our fish – exactly as Remain predicted. Even today you are writing this post about the “opportunities” of Brexit in growing the UK’s fishing industry, seemingly oblivious to the reality that supply is useless unless you also have demand. And Brexit has wrecked demand for our fish from the Eu27. Another Brexit catastrophe.
Reply Nonsense. The EU has cut its demand for our fish because most of them have closed their restaurants to tackle CV 19. There are plenty of other markets, starting at home where we can replace imports with good U.K. fish. When I last tried to buy Cornish fish on line there was a waiting time With no supply that week. I buy my U.K. fish from a supermarket wet fish counter . Other supermarkets have closed their counters limiting U.K. supply at home.
January 20, 2021
I read an article a while ago, explaining how Atlantic, Pacific and Alaskan fish was exported to China for filleting, packaging and refreezing, and then sold in the UK. Tesco, Asda and Iceland use this produce. The shipping costs much have been worthwhile for it to travel back and forth, so a one way trip to Asia must be more economical.
January 20, 2021
Indeed – it seems odd that the Scottish fishers are landing their catches in Denmark precisely to meet demand for short transit time fresh fish and seafood, which is now not possible with catches landed in the UK owing to brexit-related delays..
I doubt whether they would sail all that way for nothing somehow, don’t you?
January 21, 2021
Their spokesman, who came to London with his vast lorry, is very close to the Scottish National Socialists. They are making a political point against independence where the English and Welsh are not.
January 20, 2021
Processes fish and frozen fish can sometimes be rather more expensive than fresh. The main current problem is restaurant closures and teething troubles with some exports.
I agree with what JR says but one has to ask where is all the money coming from which businesses are people are going to pay for all this investment in fishing, farming, the lockdown support, the massive state sector, expensive intermittent energy, HS2 and all the rest of this governments waste and mad agenda?
January 21, 2021
@Lifelogic,
I think an important answer to your questions is that until we pay politicians a lot more, attracting much higher calibre people, with real experience in business and strategy and so on, then we’ll get the same old, same old. (And to do something to stop the media putting people off entering politics).
A much higher pay for those in government.
Why doesn’t the present government put this to the people in next manifesto? You want better politicians in government, then pay them a lot more. You’ll then get a much better-run country benefitting both the rich (lower taxes) and the poor (better-run services).
January 21, 2021
While there may be valid concerns about the sheep like characteristics of new MPs, bigger disappointment is evident with the Government ministers and next-in-line.
January 20, 2021
Lucky for the government they have the closed restaurant excuse. However the French are doing what ours have done, home deliveries and anyone who knows France will tell you that all the supermarches have large wet fish and coquillages counters which have not been affected.
Blaming the EU is a transparent government tactic, expect more and more in the coming weeks. Sir JRs reply, disingenuous in my view, studiously ignores the comments by fisherman about the vast increase in bureaucracy/paperwork as have other hauliers re this so called frictionless system.
Specifically criticisms of systems not being ready, no surprise there.
Fish being held up/thrown away because of vets paperwork being incorrect, indeed if you can find one because allegedly we now need more than we have. All zero to do with restaurants being closed.
January 21, 2021
Dear Nig–Doesn’t sound as if much fun in your life either–Early comments on this subject are a waste of time–It will all settle down in a week or two
January 20, 2021
In the meantime the UK has to import Cod from China because we are not permitted to fish for it ourselves in our own waters, the UK Government has no say on what happens in it own territory. The French can and do take large volumes of cod from UK territory – it doesn’t make sense.
Never forget, shipping to the EU27 is deliberately being hampered as the UK must be punished. Which begs the question why have any involvement with them while their rulers are being ‘deliberately’ obstructive.
The UK is capable of consuming more of its own fish, they are just not permitted to. There is something wrong that the very small handful of UK fisherman that don’t want to supply the UK market and they get all the headlines.
January 20, 2021
“shipping to the EU27 is deliberately being hampered” or is it just because we are a 3rd nation – that is what we vote for.
Meanwhile EU hauliers are refusing to transport to UK due to VAT guarantee. Surely you can’t blame EU for this. The resopnsible one is to be found in the mirror…
January 21, 2021
Of course, although the UK was a member of the EEC/EC/EU for nearly half a century and has been, and at present still is, fully aligned with relevant EU regulations we must nevertheless expect the EU to instantly treat the UK as it would treat any other “third country”. That is only logical, as seen from Brussels. But then it was Theresa May who decided to embrace Labour’s idea of a “transition period” during which nothing would actually change, “transition”, rather than one of the more usual kind which would have allowed changes to be phased. And referring to it as an “implementation” period also did not rectify the problem that nothing was being “implemented” during that time.
January 20, 2021
Well Said Sir John.
I note that the provision of Inspectors to check the health of landed catches in Scotland for shipment is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. It is alleged that these checks, which should only take an hour, are taking up to 5 hours.
January 20, 2021
Reply to reply
Sir John, you do accept that the extra red tape entails a higher cost, right? This will inevitably affect demand. Obviously CV 19 has also affected demand from foreign markets – but that translates to the domestic market too. Now, maybe domestic consumption will change, but there is no guarantee it will, and obviously BRINO itself cannot cause a change. It is not clear how this change will come, and more than likely that it will not come in any significant way. Unless of course there is nothing else to eat, and the UK consumer has no choice but to eat UK fish. This is not what a successful Brexit looks like.
Garland’s point about the difference between fresh fish and frozen fish is well made, and certainly not nonsense.
The point surely is that our fishermen are going to have to adapt to this new reality. They may do so successfully. Maybe there is a case for the state to step in and support them, given it is the state that has disrupted their trade – and that in the context of broken promises. Brexit was always going to produce winners and losers, and at least short-term economic discomfort was inevitable – a price worth paying to reclaim sovereignty.
To this government’s shame, BRINO also creates winners and losers, and economic disruption, but without the sovereignty dividend. The worst of all possible worlds – an outcome I believe the establishment and their instrument, the Tory party, intended, to smooth the way for a formal return to the EU club.
January 20, 2021
Why catch so many? Why not leave a larger amount to grow and breed?
January 20, 2021
Seeing that Scottish fisherman had driven some empty trucks down to London as a protest against the lack of government support I had a look at the Billingsgate market to see whether they could have brought down full trucks and sold the contents at that market … it was not clear that they could have just done that, but the point remains that whatever problems they are encountering with their exports to the EU would not arise with sales of their fish in England. Having said that, is it an outlandish idea that the government could do something to help them and others such as sheep farmers to redirect some of their sales to the home market?
January 20, 2021
You’ve hit the nail on the head and once again, a politician with just a broad brush opinion rather than any actual knowledge of the fishing industry has tried to shoot this down.
If there was no demand in Europe for example, why would these firms be trying, and failing, to continue sending their goods to Europe?!
It will only be a matter of days before the wholesalers in the EU find new suppliers and then these firms will just disappear and there won’t be a fishing industry in the UK.
January 20, 2021
I’m sure there are many suppliers of North Sea fish apart from the UK whose waters hold most of those fish which our continental neighbours used to steal.
January 21, 2021
Because nobody eats fish in the UK, do they.
January 20, 2021
JR:
“There are plenty of other markets, starting at home where we can replace imports with good U.K. fish”
….exactly. We need to get our own fish promoted and sold here.
January 20, 2021
“Other supermarkets have closed their counters limiting U.K. supply at home.”
Tip: try your nearest Morrisons, their fish counters still seem to be operating near normal.
January 20, 2021
If the EU wish to harm their own consumers by excluding UK fish, then they can. Any country can harm itself by playing silly games excluding trade; it’s just that there is a cost to pay for doing so, and consumers pay it.
Blaming this on Brexit is stupid. If it really is an EU policy to exclude UK fish, then the blame lies with their irrational reaction to Brexit, not Brexit itself.
January 21, 2021
There is no EU policy to exclude UK fish. There is an EU policy to treat UK fish in exactly the same way as the EU treats all fish coming from outside the EU – which means lots of paperwork, red tape, and checks. It is exactly what Brexit means, it is exactly what the UK (not the EU ) has chosen, and it is exactly what you voted for
January 20, 2021
What about selling to the UK – circa. 68m people – no red tape?
January 20, 2021
The Tories sold off our quotas in the 80s, nothing to do with the EU
January 20, 2021
UK waters were taken into the CFP in 1972. It would not have been legal to “sell off quotas” in the eighties.
January 20, 2021
Job One is to fix the problems getting in the way of our fish exports to the EU. (BTW, I’m a firm Leaver.) I don’t much care if they’re the fault of the EU, DEFRA or the Scottish government; politicians and civil servants have to fix them. Once again, we see that the capability of government to do ‘change management’ is limited – particularly when it constrains itself by imposing tight timelines. And we’ve seen the Home Office drop the ball at our airports in the past few days.
January 21, 2021
Agreed SW – these things can always be improved and certainly should be “at pace” (the new catchphrase for ‘quickly’) . Of course “Government” has many meanings and is often misdirected.
When a Police database is deleted (probably by an outside contractor) the Beeb is busy asking why Priti hadn’t taken more care with it (evoking images of her stuffing backup CDs into her desktop PC). When some anonymous manager, somewhere deep in PHE or the NHS decides volunteer doctors (returning to do vaccinations) need racial awareness and H&S at work training before they can administer a simple jab – it falls to Matt Hancock to explain why this was nonsense is required – when I very much doubt he even knew about the small print requirement before it was on the 9 o’clock news.
I don’t have much time generally for our political classes (apologies Sir John) but often wonder at the quality of our senior civil servants (the hidden hand of government) and how even the most competent of politicians can in practice achieve effective management through them. Like trying to control a sack-full of ferrets in a sack I would imagine – a very leaky sack….
January 20, 2021
I do understand that you Brexiters are desperately trying to blame COVID for the catastrophes of Brexit, but it won’t wash. It is nothing to do with whether restaurants are open are not that Scottish boats are landing fish in Denmark instead of Scotland, so losing jobs in Scotland, it is everything to do with the red tape and barriers that is the direct result of Brexit. You wanted to leave the EU single market, now own up to the consequences
January 20, 2021
Main problem is we don’t have the talent in government to implement in a straight forwards manner complicated things like Brexit (if we had, then they would have first properly planned for / strategised Brexit – Boris and Gove don’t know anything about Strategy – they’re just Journo / PR whizz kids). With a creative vision what Brexit is about (breaking links with evil Europe isn’t a creative vision). But we can still get there. But huge task.
First thing we have to do:
1) Attract much higher quality politicians into politics. Pay them much more, in particular those in government and the PM. Current PM’s salary is ÂŁ150K. That’s ridiculous. It should be nearer 500K to a million. Then we can attract CEOs who have done well in business. Set up their own brands, employed 50 to 100 people, exported abroad. And although money not most important, respect still comes with salary.
2) Let’s try and do something to challenge disrespect to politicians. I don’t know.
3) We need a think tank to figure out how to reinstall the best of traditional, Conservative values: Work Ethic, Family Life, Public Duty, Patriotism – all of which lead to taxes tumbling down.
4) And from this we can then really plan for Sovereignty with a great creative vision for the future – and implement Brexit properly.
But it all ultimately depends on a strong leader. And that goes back to point 1) We need to attract far higher calibre politicians by paying them a lot more. I think.
January 21, 2021
+1
January 20, 2021
Sir John. You have said this before which leads me to think you are banging your head against the wall with the inaction of the government. What you say makes sense to me. We also need to ensure that Scotland doesnât vote for independence for the same reasons we voted for Brexit, the feeling we were being treated with contempt. So we need to sort the Scottish fishing issues to stop the SNP beating Westminster around the head with it.
January 20, 2021
We are Importing Scallops from South America, Why can’t the Scottish fishermen sell them here. It’s the same with Welsh lamb, I’ve never seen any at the butchers or the supermarket.
We have a chance to reduce our trade imbalance if we try.
January 20, 2021
You’ve removed the links, they were very useful.
January 20, 2021
Agree with all of the above
January 20, 2021
There are two problems with promoting British fishing. Firstly, snowflake generation doesn’t care for braving heavy seas all night. Secondly, the British people don’t much like what is fished from our waters.
For myself, you can leave all the molluscs and crustaceans in the sea. I’ll pass on them thank you. Plus, I will quite happily sing “For those in peril on the sea” whilst having my feet planted on solid ground.
January 20, 2021
Off topic: Ah – now I’ve seen the first leaked mention to the newspapers of June for lifting lockdown. So, it’s advancing by leaks a month at a time, mid-February, start of March, Easter, May or even June. As it will be re-imposed in September for the next winer wave that doesn’t give us much of a window does it ? Steve Baker’s letter didn’t quite do the trick did it. You’ll have to furlough SAGE if you ever want to break out of this cycle.
January 21, 2021
I watched some awful film on Netflix yesterday – it was set in 2023, in California, in a complete lockdown facing the killer disease Covid 23. There were shoot on sight curfews and quarantine camps etc. Although the film was a bit anal, it does make you wonder if that is what we are being softened up for. The number of people that not only accept lockdown, but actually embrace it and think it should be much more draconian, is very worrying. Truly, we are like sheep.
January 20, 2021
The U.K. fishing industry needs a collective marketing organisation, similar to Fonterra in New Zealand for dairy products.
Privately run, owned by the fishermen, encouraged by Government. Individually they do not have the resources to coordinate and promote investments in new channels, new processing capabilities, and marketing. Collectively they can. It needs to be commercial. Timid civil servants in the Department of Agriculture wonât see beyond subsidies.
The Government can kick-start the development by funding some feasibility studies, consulting with the industry, and bringing the players together .
P.S. Big improvement to the aesthetics of the site. But as you know, itâs the content that counts
January 20, 2021
In a country that has a fish and chip shop on every corner, we definitely need a fish marketing organization. Brilliant thinking.
January 21, 2021
And take VAT off takeaway food.
January 21, 2021
Jon, I frequently agree with your views, but on this I have to say that ‘ordinary’ fish shops have been disappearing for years – their owners have told me that modern customers can’t be bothered with some of the preparation required, and apparently were bothered by the bones!
January 20, 2021
I do not like your new site, I only got here by accident, it is a maze, the result of handing the task to experts who can only speak to experts. I even got switched to a chinese porn site in the process. Sort it, if it cannot be used by the average squaddie it is not fit for purpose.
You are dead right about UK supermarket fish counters, they are abysmal. In Spain they are five times the size and full of fresh fish and shellfish. Those behind the counter are knowledgable and can skin and fillet anything. I get out of isolation today and will visit the one and only fishmonger in Worcester and they are in the rural outskirts.
The UK supermarkets rip you off. I can buy six inch long prawns( langostinos or gambas) for âŹ18.50 for 2Kg in Spain, UK supermarkets sell scabby little unshelled prawns at ÂŁ22.00 per kilo. Check it out.
I am well on side with what you write today and suggest we export shellfish chilled and live to Japan by air at greater profit.
January 21, 2021
Agree fresh fish in European Supermarkets is less expensive than in the UK, with far, far more choice.
Given this situation how come the UK fishermen are supposed to be getting a higher price for their catch in Europe, is it because the profit margins in the UK supermarkets are greater than in Europe.
Certainly the amount of fresh fish on offer on supermarket counters in the UK has diminished substantially over the years, is this because UK customers appetite for fresh fish has declined ?
January 20, 2021
Reply to reply.
Yes restaurants have closed in Spain today, however that is only part of the story and less significant than you think. The vast majority of fish is bought in supermarkets by the spanish public. Their love of fish and shellfish is extensive and knowledgable. UK waters caught fish is cheaper in Spain than it would be in the UK if you could get it, and mostly you cannot. Yesterday I checked out the price of Caribineros Rojos (very large red prawns) on a UK site , ÂŁ87.00 per kilo. You are being ripped off, as with just about every other form of shellfish.
January 20, 2021
Might I suggest that had our government wished to ban supertrawlers it would have already.
January 20, 2021
It takes us all to pull this from a demand side. British fish and lamb. Demand needn’t be static. Fish can be healthy and government should be freeing up investment as you say.
Meanwhile Madame Mai is putting her spoke in the wheel of a government which at least succeeded when hers was an abject failure. Fortunately for her, she is of so little import that nobody will bother with the easy task of taking her facile arguments to bits.
January 20, 2021
Can I suggest.
Click on JRD, click on redN, click on Find on site, scroll down , click on comments and you are in.
Better still put an entry route map on page one.
January 20, 2021
I agree with banning the larger vessels, in whatever way it is implemented. However, I get a sense that, for some reason,the government is reluctant to do so.
One thing that we do not do and should is to have a number of retaliatory measures to delay or block exports from the EU to the U.K. As they sell more to us than vice versa, this could be a reality check for them. You really need the likes of Cummings to shake things up in this area.
January 20, 2021
If it is true that there are slow and costly EU health checks on fish coming from the UK that rather goes to illustrate the sclerotic, protectionist nature of EU regulation, given the fish are fished from the same waters as EU boats use and are processed in the same way.
Sir John’s explanation is more likely to be correct in any event.
January 20, 2021
The fishing industry has been let down for decades and now they have been let down again by the Withdrawal Agreement. They need somebody with a high profile in government who can both champion their cause AND really make things happen. Gove is the man to do it!
January 20, 2021
Gove???? The man who stabbed Northern Ireland in the back? You are obviously joking, but it really is not funny.
January 20, 2021
The Government cannot be this dozy, surely? There must be a secret protocol to the oven-ready deal that provides we will not actually use any of the freedoms we now have, lest the Evil Empire is disconcerted.
January 20, 2021
So …. after being told for years that if there was one industry who would benefit form Brexit it was fishing it turns out that in order to stop the industry collapsing we have to find a load more money, we have not got, to throw at them.
The we have to buy , or rather not buy expensive nasty UK fish we did not wish to eat before and would prefer not to now . Sorry if I seem shellfish (bm-tsk)
Of course this was predicted and may we have the first “I told you so” of the year
January 20, 2021
No need to fund the fisheries sector with a single penny – all they need is 100% full access to our entire UK waters….Today not in 5.5 years
January 20, 2021
This comment is a smoked red-herring.
Fishing is one of many key points about Sovereignty. So if you’re going for Sovereignty then you have to include Fishing.
Whether a country is economically prepared enough, with a good plan, and leader in place, to implement a shift to Sovereignty is a different matter. But the country voted for Sovereignty. And in theory (not necessarily in practice), Sovereignty is easily the preferred option (how can it not be?)
So everyone just needs to get behind Sovereignty as best as possible (whilst also keeping good, healthy with Europe, for trading reasons, but also because Europe is still a great place to go on holiday, visit, travel etc).
January 21, 2021
Hear hear
January 20, 2021
Congratulations on the new website, it does look good. This post is a test!
January 20, 2021
Good morning Sir John
A nice refresh.
On fishing dredging does the major damage, as it is indiscriminate. As was highlighted by Greenpeace dredging in the breading season on breading grounds is vandalism. Dredging in the UK EEZ during certain times(breading season) of the year by any boat should just be banned, it destroys todays harvest and future harvests to the detriment of all fishermen.
There can be no excuse for that practice.
January 20, 2021
The new site is a pleasant surprise.
As I live in the West Country I have supported â buy local â and âBuy Britishâ as that also keeps money in our local area which suffers from seasonal jobs.
The eu are being vindictive But they did us one favour when they insisted on place of origin on food. Read it when you shop and boycott their goods and farm product by buying at the farm gate
January 20, 2021
“As the government battles the virus”
One could imagine that (some of) our natural rights and fundamental freedoms could have been temporarily suspended if the public health scenario was grave, well understood, and the countermeasures were known to be effective. It appears, however, that these rights and freedoms have instead been permanently removed while those in power think about what to do. That is a dictator’s charter, whatever the social problem – whether it be a virus, a thirty-year “climate emergency”, or the Great Depression.
It is now 300 days since the Tory Party leader’s first stay-at-home order was given effect.
January 20, 2021
Civil servants operated the paperwork to prove that a lobster is a healtand hy lobster and a prawn is a healthy prawn for forty years while we were in the EU. Most of the larger king prawns are imported from Asia and ,knowing what they are fed on, I don’t buy them.
For four years civil servants have known that their opposite numbets in the EU would be requiring the same paperwork for our fish. How is it possible that after all this time the fishermen do not have the paperwork to prove that the fish are as healthy as before?
As for the definition of an industrial trawler, the agreement requires that the definition will be decided by expert civil servants who will decide who is expert enough to decide and half of them will be from the European union which is busy destroying stocks in the same way that they have in the Mediterranean.
January 20, 2021
Congratulations to our host for a refreshing, well-designed upgrade to the website.
January 20, 2021
I do like a freshen up, the new blog is more modern and looks less partisan. That moving headline banner is going to take some getting used to, I like it but I’d like a button to stop it rotating when I’m reading.
1. Just do it next week! Who is going to say no to this? Unless Boris has agreed to licence seven super trawlers to fish our waters as the press said.
There hasn’t been thought given to small suppliers to Ireland in the UK. There needs to be a simpler to use the system or a free training portal for the creation of new export documents in order to calculate duties due, Boris and Gove agreed for this to be enacted with immediate effect and there aren’t enough man-hours for unskilled people to learn to do this quickly. People are struggling to cut the necessary documents themselves and the customs agents have just said call back next month, or we’re not taking on new clients until March because they can’t cope with it. We gave the EU six months leeway for imports but took on the export obligation from 1.1.21. It’s probably a good thing so many companies and Countries are locked down until mid-February. I agree about creating new UK markets especially when we do buy lots of fish and we’d like to explore some new products who’d have thought Brits would ever buy Quinoa.
January 20, 2021
Off topic but EU related. Interesting comment piece in the DT re the benefit of Brexit enabling us to go it alone on vaccine purchasing and thus be well in front of them and much of the rest of the world.
The EU tried to bully us into joining their scheme but demanding we dropped all negotiations with individual providers, had no say in how they were implementing it nor any assurance about supply, just we would have to âwait our turnâ. Extraordinary how they continued to think that would be acceptable to us.
This was supported by the inevitable letter from scientists in the Guardian saying how dangerous etc going it alone would be. I presume there wonât be a follow up offering humble apologies for being wrong.
More bollocks from experts blinded by their love of the EU.
January 20, 2021
Like the structure of the new site.
On supertrawlers, I signed the petition “Ban Supertrawlers from UK waters after leaving the EUs Common Fisheries Policy” and received a response on 15th January.
The government response was somewhat incoherent and started by fobbing off concerns saying no-one can agree on what a supertrawler is and they don’t damage stocks or the seabed anyway.
This response gives my no confidence in the attitude and competence of the political and civil service functionaries having responsibilities in this area. As far as I can see their sole concern has been to sideline British concerns and interests and focus on limiting the impact on the EU.
January 20, 2021
We hear of lorry loads of fish rotting because of paperwork problems. In the short term, why are these not put onto the U.K. market? We would all be patriotic and eat some, I feel sure.
The EU insist that all internal air flights be operated by majority EU owned airlines. This is a convenient precedent for us to insist that all vessels operating under the U.K. fishing quota should be U.K. owned.
January 20, 2021
As quotas and catches are regulated jointly and have , been already agreed for the next five years, it is obvious that the only way to assist preservation of current fish stocks would be to limit the size of vessel permitted to fish our waters. I think the figures that you suggest are too large. It would be a fairly simple assessment exercise to optimise the size of vessel with the maximum catch desirable in our waters and approximate construction to that figure. There are only a limited number of voyages that a boat may make and once it is fully loaded it must return to land it’s catch. I believe that, providing that the same rule applies to vessels of all Nationalities in our waters, there could be no formal dispute under the Agreement.
January 20, 2021
P.S. The same principal would surely apply to regulation of fishing methods and net sizes in certain areas.
January 20, 2021
Wow the green uplands and green shoots of Spring beckon inviting positivity from contributers. Thanks for your kind hosting of this at your own expense and most valuable time too. The best of British to you Sir John.
January 20, 2021
Contributors …
January 20, 2021
The deceit and hyprocisy of the fishing give away is breathtaking. If the UK is a sovereign nation we have the right to control our coastal waters. The agreement is beyond my comprehension. Factory trawlers should be shadowed by RN or Coastguard. The conservation of our fish and sea bed are serious conservation matters. Having had the delight of a dolphin coming up to a friend’s sailing boat, I dread to think of the suffering of collateral and unnecessary catches.
January 20, 2021
Boris gave away our waters (and Northern Ireland). Why? Because the EU is our biggest export market and he realised (too late) he needed a tariff free deal so he had to make concessions – and even then he didnât get frictionless trade, because of health checks and rule of origin checks. Every last little bit is WORSE than being in the EU, with a voice at the top table. Brexit? It stinks
January 20, 2021
I dont like the 100m length categorisation. It is easily circumvented. For some time now, naval architects have argued that a catamaran design would be superior as a trawler, as it enables the nets to be deployed and pulled from the center, clear of screws and rudders. This would enable construction of a truly massive trawler, albeit with a length not exceeding 100m. I much prefer the maximum deadweight limit instead.
January 20, 2021
JR, On my (old) phone (Android 2.3), half your newest (leading) article is obliterated by the soothing photos. So I’m less than soothed. As Patrick Hutber said: “Improvement means deterioration”.
January 20, 2021
Only Android 8 to 11 are currently supported so you are vulnerable to hacking, viruses etc. That’s not for SJR to fix even though he can do amazing things like providing this blog.
January 20, 2021
Going off comments from the owner of a deep sea / long distance fishing vessel where he states that he needs to take his boat to the Netherlands ( ? ) for repairs then more infrastructure is needed in the UK I.e. marine engineering and boat building capabilities.
Also more fish processing plants.
Immediately the UK needs more regional technically qualified representatives at major ports to help fishermen to get the new paperwork right
January 20, 2021
Nobody is going to invest a bean in UK fisheries until after the 5.5 years Trade & Coop Agreement reallocates the UK quota
All the grants, loans, harbour improvements, shipping registrar, type of ship or catch are meaningless if the quota system remains the sameâŠ.sort out the quota in favour of UK fisheries today and all the other issues will fall into place
Only a fool would invest in UK fisheries under the current system and schedule
January 20, 2021
Sorry – Don’t like the new format. Top half of screen is took up, Used to be able to see a few posts at a time – not now.
January 20, 2021
Also time of posting is no longer included.
January 20, 2021
I agree Neil. I was just saying the same thing. I don’t like it at all.
January 20, 2021
Regarding bullet point 1, yes the govt could legislate, and your proposals sound sensible, but the elephant remains seemingly unnoticed in the centre of the room – how would this be policed, does either the Royal Navy or RAF have the means to patrol our territorial waters like we could say back in the 1970s?
January 20, 2021
Not sure about your new website John. I notice youâve taken out the âspeaking for England bitâ not that with respect you did much of that anyway in recent times. Oh well, youâre in good company with the rest of the 553 self serving UK MPs in the UK Government squatting in English seats who canât even bring themselves to say the word England let alone say a a word against the rotten deal their constituents alone in the UK get both financially and constitutionally just because theyâre English.
January 20, 2021
Off-topic, it’s potentially a nuisance for me that Theresa May has written an article in the Daily Mail denouncing Boris Johnson. She may have some valid points, but if it gets reported in the Maidenhead Advertiser I will feel duty bound to send in a letter about the pot calling the kettle black.
January 20, 2021
Dennis, it is unbelievable. May seems unable to reflect on her behaviour let alone public treachery to the mandate she was given to be in office, publicly stating and writing how a Brexit minister would lead negotiations, then doing exactly the opposite behind his back! It was not until Raab she slipped out she would take charge. The same May who was prepared to negotiate and work with Corbyn to get her way! The same who told Miliband she would not just implement but build on his policy after her role in he previous govt warned us about him and ridiculed his policy!
She was going to get rid of ECHR she told us in 2017 to be elected and then forgot in her EU capitulating negotiations! She sold the nation out and forgot.
January 20, 2021
I don’t think many people care that much.
Mrs May is a good, honest, hard-working Englishwoman but she doesn’t have the creativity to be a great leader (mind you, I don’t think Boris is much of a strategist / I don’t think he’s a whole lot better).
She’d make a good Manager but not a CEO who has to think creatively to expand the brand.
January 21, 2021
You are entitled to your view, but having watched her closely for twenty-four years I have a different view.
January 21, 2021
Well, there’s nothing about it in the Advertiser. Perhaps she thought she would gain too little, and might even provoke some hostile reactions, if it was reported in her local paper, or the editor decided that it was not worth mentioning it and possibly provoking some hostile reactions … either way I can hold my peace.
January 20, 2021
Please also ban pulse fishing.
January 20, 2021
To say the fishing industry feel “let down” is a ridiculous euphemism. They have been BETRAYED.
Why has the government not banned supertrawlers? You (and most others) have been asking for this but the government has done NOTHING. It is shameful.
Why has the government not made it compulsory for ALL fish caught in British waters to be LANDED in Britain?
Why has the government not made it compulsory for all UK-flagged ships to be 100% British-owned and operated?
Why has the government not immedately cut foreign catches and increased UK catches by a minimum of 50%? This is the very smallest amount acceptable. And if British fishermen are not able to catch that increased amount right away then so much the better – let fishing stocks recover!
Why has the government not financed new fish-processing factories in our ports?
Why has the government not made it compulsory for ALL vessels fishing in British waters to be built in Britain?
These are the things a genuinely patriotic government that cared about its fishing industry (and boat-building industry) would do. The government however has done NONE of these things. We have been BETRAYED by Boris.
January 20, 2021
Dear Mr. Redwood,
A ban on super large industrial trawlers that would leave more fish for our smaller boats? I was under the misapprehension that foreign vessels, irrespective of their size, were only allowed to catch fish up to their allotted quota and once that is reached then they have to stop fishing.
January 20, 2021
What is the limitation on the amount of damage foreign vessels can do to the sea bed?
January 21, 2021
they throw catches over quota back I believe, dead
January 20, 2021
That’s all very well but is there a enough support in government to push hard to implement it, also we need to tell the EU what we intend to do in five years time hopefully repatriate all of our fishing grounds and annual negotiations on fishing licences so any fluctuations in fish stock’s can keep our boats with a steady income and any variation and surpluses to other nations.
January 20, 2021
Sideways from the excuse about restaurants, headlines in the financial pages of the Sunday Times highlighted massive Brexit related problems with auto motive supply chains having a serious impact on production.
A theme seems to be emerging from across the piece and that includes denial from HMG with Gove, who is responsible, nowhere to be seen, surprising for such a voluble man?
January 20, 2021
Nice new site. Couple of suggestions:
– The top banner with the picture slide show makes the writing difficult to read. You can solve this easily by increasing the transparency of the pictures in the slideshow
– Would be nice to have comments ranked by most popular since that helps to quickly see what the most interesting points are
January 20, 2021
Boris was quick to stop pulse fishing ,but only because the EU had already agreed to stop it anyway. If he could stop the so called factory ships then why doesn’t he get on with it. The likelihood is because the agreement won,t let him unless he compensates for loss of catch and expenditure
for smaller craft. Sir John could always ask him if he intends to restrict larger factory ship from our waters. I fear the answer will be no, and they will say that we will benefit after the 5 years when we will get a greater part of the catch, it will be status quo until then.
January 20, 2021
Hey the new site looks good! Congratualtions!
And then to biz…what about our own super trawlers?
Ocean Star, Kirkella, Voyager etc. Surely if we ban Super Trawlers in name of decency we must ban our own Super Trawlers as well. Kirkella for example is most active outside UK waters but so what. Lets not be hypocritical. Owners of the ship must dismantel it and invest to smaller boats. Is this really what you are suggesting? I
None of these boats is 100m or over but as you said there is no defenition. In media these are however portraited as super trawlers.
January 20, 2021
Remain voting fisherman of Scotland and Northern Ireland sold very little of their quota. Leave voting England and Wales have sold 55% of their quota to foreign owned vessels that thought it a long term investment worth having.
Are you proposing that the UK government buys back those quotas or reneges on those deals?
January 20, 2021
What has the government got to do with deals between private individuals? More bailing out of foreigners with taxpayers’ money, you think?
January 20, 2021
I like the new site but could I respectfully suggest that, instead of trying to pander to the green lobby with plants as the backdrop, could we not have scenes from Wokingham and the glorious River Thames which is on your doorstep ?
January 20, 2021
If it is within our rights to restrict the size of the vessel we should do so. If we can tie the decision to an EU rule, such as ecology, so much the better.
January 20, 2021
Stay safe nuncle!!! Happy new year Sirrah and well done with improving the site
January 20, 2021
I’ve been raising the need for a new fleet of UK-built fishing boats for the last four years and it’s very pleasing that, at last, the government has decided to invest ÂŁ100m in the industry. It’s just a pity that the work was not completed before the end of 2020. That might have demonstrated to the EU much earlier that we were very serious about taking back control of our waters.
However, is there a proper analysis of the fishing industry that can inform us better on where we stand ?
In particular, it seems that UK boats catch a lot of fish sold into Europe and EU boats catch lots of fish in our waters and others that we consume here.
To counteract any attempt by the EU to impose tariffs when we take back more quota after the interim period ends, surely the new UK fleet of boats should be designed primarily to catch 100% of the fish we actually consume here ?
January 20, 2021
Any government investment must conply with T&CA state aid rules and satisfy the EU level playing field
January 20, 2021
We love fish but the major supermarkets having killed off independant fishmongers have now closed their fresh fish counters. Impossible to buy fish unless it is prepacked , frozen and generally imported.
Let’s have a buy British fish campaign!
January 20, 2021
Except Morrisons.
Buy British Fish fresh from Morrisons.
January 20, 2021
I remember the days when every school and military establishment had fresh fish on fridays
January 20, 2021
It is my understanding that coastal waters and fishing are the responsibility of devolved Governments. Given the large stocks around the Scottish coast, it seems only right Scotland should pursue its own fishing policy with the EU. Post-Covid the EU is the only real market because we don’t want to be shipping food products around the world.
Any future changes in current regulations need to be reversed by future GOV, the US administration will be looking very carefully at what the UK Gov does with respect to the so-called UK single market.
Oh and I like the new layout
January 21, 2021
“the EU is the only real market because we donât want to be shipping food products around the world”
Well, I suppose there could be the UK market, which would minimise the need to ship fish around the world, although of course as it seems that people in our country no longer want to eat any of the fish caught in our waters there may have to be a law compelling them to do so. Once they were in prison for failing to eat UK fish they would have to eat whatever they were given, and if they didn’t like UK fish they could go hungry …
January 20, 2021
Let’s stop the Dutch depth charging for fish.
January 20, 2021
We Brits don’t eat the fish caught in our waters, we eat fish from further north. Until three weeks ago we sold the fish caught in our waters to willing consumers in Europe. Not now. Now we can catch the fish, but we have no one to sell it to, because of Brexit red tape. What a pointless waste. But that’s Brexit, everyone loses. Are you now starting to realise just how beautiful the EU’s single market, shaped by Mrs Thatcher, really is?
January 21, 2021
Evidently British tastes have changed since I were a lad.
January 20, 2021
Hmm…..nice web layout JR.
Now we are out of the EU, could you please adhere to imperial weights & measures ? The ‘tonnes’ you refer to is metric, sometimes abbreviated Te.
Also, ship size is classified by displacement, not deadweight.
Good article though, fully agree with what you say.
January 20, 2021
@Steve,
‘Now we are out of the EU, could you please adhere to imperial weights & measures ? ‘
Another great thing about Brexit that doesn’t often get mentioned is PERSONALITY.
We all LOVE people who are unique and have personalities. Oscar Wilde springs to mind for many. We don’t want to be anodyne robots. Everyone the same. All countries the same. No. countries should have personality just as human beings should have personality.
Personality and Sovereignty go together. So please bring back tonnes, feet, inches – best of all, stone!
January 21, 2021
In away nice thought. But I believe we need to be practical if we think about export. I would assume that bringing back the inches and stones would just further complicate our exports so I suggest we at least ask the opinion of our exporters.
We could of course think about getting back the good old shilling as well…
January 21, 2021
Fair enough – and bring back ‘half crowns’ – before my day but sounded good .. tuppence too
January 20, 2021
Do you want long tons or short tons?
January 20, 2021
Why doesn’t the UK lease out some its fishing rights to Europe?
Like renting out your house but you still own it?
January 20, 2021
We donât rent out our agriculture land to europeans nor our airspace, so why our waters â Canât think of one other country that rents or even shares its territorial waters
January 21, 2021
Don’t know much (/ anything) about this subject. Just a bit of creative thinking on my part really (although I fully accept the argument of the importance of fishing as part of sovereignty).
January 20, 2021
That is exactly what they are doing. The UK controls its waters, but grants the EU rights to fish.
January 20, 2021
Boris Johnson has described the opportunity for the fishing industry as “El Dorado”.
El Dorado was a myth, a legend. A dream sold to people which never existed. Searches for riches which all ended up in complete failure.
Never has a truer word been spoken about Brexit.
January 20, 2021
If I may tie up all three of your posts today.
Feed pupils entitled to free school meals British fish but make sure that the home delivery data is correctly backed up
January 20, 2021
19/01/2021
MPs voted against an amendment to protect the NHS in future trade deals (357 to 266) and against giving themselves a say over future trade deals (353 to 277).
The first vote must obviously part of their efforts at protecting the NHS, and the second at Parliament taking back control.
Or is there something I did not understand?
January 20, 2021
I am pretty sure I have posted this before, but it’s worth saying. We have a relatively small fishing fleet that could not fish the whole of UK waters today. We also have a small boat building and maintenance industry. If we can’t fish our own waters, we can allow the EU to fish them on a declining scale. If we try to grow the UK fleet overnight, the yards will be overwhelmed, and we will have to import the new boats, which will benefit the yards in other EU countries. So we should prime the pump to get yards and the fleet growing slowly, and in five years time we will be ready to harvest our own catch.
In other words, the Government is doing roughly the right thing, as indeed, it usually does.
January 20, 2021
Ever heard of shipbrokers?
January 21, 2021
Jon, British people dont want to eat fish caught in our waters. Your plan is useless unless you intend to force people to give up cod and haddock and eat pollock instead. I dont think that would be welcomed as a Brexit bonus
January 21, 2021
Another anti-Brexit false narrative.
January 21, 2021
I see ‘save my name and email etc.’ still doesn’t work using Microsoft Edge on a Windows 10 PC. And, when you make a comment, the page does not scroll back to your comment. It goes back up to the top. If this is by design it is very poor design. I have built web sites for years – when a user updates a page that has already been scrolled, it is basic stuff to scroll back to where the user was after the data has been submitted.
January 21, 2021
It is interesting to read that, as with so many other things, we in this country are ripped off. We seem to have to pay higher charges for our own fish than those same fish fetch on the continent. Not to fisherfolk – sell your catch here for the same price as you sell it to France and Spain and, who knows, you might sell more fish here.
January 21, 2021
Just a note to say the ‘save my name and email’ function does work using Firefox on a Windows 10 PC. Why Edge doesn’t work is a mystery – they are both supposed to be ‘standards compliant’ these days.
January 21, 2021
WTO default was always the best option. A close association agreement with restrictive clauses allows a fig leaf for EU devotees elected as Brexiteers. Actions say they simply do not want to leave cleanly.
Net Tariffs in our favor. A reduction of imports/exports to the EU will be help in restructuring supply chains away from unreliable trade partners.
Fish can be used as fertiliser , left to restock or sold within the UK or frozen to other buyers with sensible trade & associated policies.
Just leave.
Oh and take Vat off fish based takeaways for east British fish campaign. It seems very expensive these days rather than a staple.
January 22, 2021
Agree with all JR’s points.
Especially helping to find new markets and the means to supply them. Boris needs to be immediately pro-active on that front.
I think a smaller maximum boat size of say 50m. And no destructive trawling methods. Nets to have a large mesh size.
A higher percentage (say 80%) of fish caught in UK waters should be landed in the UK
Trawlers that break the regulations in our waters need to be commandeered by the RN, brought to the UK and scrapped.
January 25, 2021
Hi John,
There is one small but a critical error in your master plan, the British don’t eat enough fish to sustain the level of fishing you are encouraging.
Shouldn’t investment in fishing infrastructure be driven by market demand, there isn’t a UK demand. Why are you suggesting throwing good money after bad?