#fishing Fishing: an explainer of why Brexit will not do nearly as much for our fishing industry as some people claim.

This concerns us in Lewes because we have fishing boats in Newhaven. In fact,there is fishing all along the south coast, including Shoreham, one of the biggest fishing ports in the country, just down the road.

First of all, by and large, the fish we eat in the UK don’t live in UK waters and we generally don’t eat the fish that do live in UK waters.

Fishing is controlled globally under various international treaties like #UNCLOS and #CITES that will apply regardless of whether we are inside or outside of the CFP. So leaving the CFP still doesn’t mean we can do what we like.

We might be able to exclude foreign boats from our seas; but – quid pro quo – we will be excluded from theirs. British boats might have British waters to themselves, but they won’t be able to fish elsewhere.

And the total catch landed in the UK is larger than the total quota for UK waters, so UK fishing boats will be worse off.

Furthermore, they will be landing fish and shellfish for which there is no market in the UK and therefore trying to sell it across borders which for food products will be extremely highly restricted.

We sell a lot of shellfish to China: mostly whelks and that is because there is little market for them in the UK or the EU.

We sell a lot of scallops and mussels. They are generally sold alive and the market for them is largely in France and Belgium. No deal would probably end that trade because of the cost and delay of various checks like health and origin certificates.

Once live scallops and mussels die they must be thrown away. Even if we got a deal to export them to the EU, the delays caused by administration would make the trade unviable.

The next alternative is for them to be shipped to Scotland for processing and selling into Europe at a much lower value.

We catch other fish as well – e.g. lots of lemon and Dover sole. If you spot either of those in a British #chippie, let us know.

Our larger fishing concerns are not so worried about the paperwork as they already do it for non-EU export. They are more worried about delays at ferry ports. Delayed fish = customers turning up their noses.

The smaller fishing concerns, if they have a local market and can continue to compete in it after Brexit might be OK, but it certainly won’t be a bonanza.

And a lot of their catch is already exported through cooperative wholesalers and they will need to pay for and provide health and origin certificates for each day’s catch at a cost which is likely to be prohibitive. Goodbye to that market.

85% of cod landed in the UK is caught outside UK waters - largely in the Icelandic and Norwegian EEZs - 15% of it by one Scottish vessel.

Neither Iceland nor Norway is in the EU but both are closely aligned with it and, of course, with UNCLOS, CITES and so on. So we won’t be able to just go and fish in Icelandic waters when we feel like it.

So, taking back control of our fishing waters in the sense that the Tories mean would do very little for our fishing industry.

It would also be an abrogation of our treaty responsibilities and commitments under UNCLOS and the London Convention 1964 (NB: well before the CFP). But what else would you expect from this government of free booters?