![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jU6N5_W0bDUglyUDqUiS6f0-gHAt1brmswJx9KSnz0EXPl-6178Et6NORIBcgb2cCZgWpEIyjoJNDo7EbAxZoADWtr14aO_qoXFsdZX1VpzckY0QGLEn3IhwQlMD-K-ZFRQ0CQ/s320/Fisheries+agenda.jpg)
And it is this paperwork which is killing the fishing industry. As I wrote last year, it is a cruel irony that the last formal EU ministers' meeting of the year is the fisheries council, at which the fate of fishermen throughout the EU – but especially in the UK – is decided for the coming year.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2LzPjAtQXmUpbjnko-lGQoV175nwlFoLkUTtyw7UjaZu-J0yXB620kuD5VTfBU4kqnxJ8dJgXq0MhmVmHofe2K8J1nDXc5Y6Ek74Igjk0-MCyvwwwMYZmSZt_A9zJMjN9t2yYA/s320/Fisheries+council+002.jpg)
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One could, of course, prattle on like Charles Clover, who laments that "the fish always lose", a facile comment if ever there was. But then he gets paid to do it. In fact, it is all of us that lose, the whole nation, as we see an industry which could be worth £3 billion plus ground into oblivion, currently worth about half a billion and declining each year.
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As the man from Scotland says, "it's another nail in the coffin", while that brainless fool Ross Finnie twitters - as he always does, every year – "I think it's the best deal there was available." If the "colleagues" stripped his shirt and underpants from him as he walked out of the Council chamber he would still say the same.
Of all the comments I have read, though, the one I prefer comes from the BBC website, citing Dr Bryce Beukers-Stewart, Fisheries Policy Officer for the Marine Conservation Society. He says:
It is astounding that the EU continues to persist with this doomed approach to fisheries management. These marginal adjustments to the quotas for cod around the UK have been going on for at least the last 20 years, but the fish stocks themselves are going down much faster. This is hardly surprising, as the quotas still allow for at least 60 percent of the fish to be removed each year - what chance does that give for recovery?
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Of course, there was such an approach proposed by the Conservative Party, which was gathering strength until the current leader junked the policy.
The light at the end of the tunnel is a huge express train, the letters “EU” emblazoned on it front, bearing down on us. There is no hope for the fishing industry, no hope at all. The picture above says it all: as the sun sets on the industry, the "Single European Fish" is now that much closer to reality.
Photos: Council of the European Communities.
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