Re: Here Comes Norway ...!
Originally Posted by
Solasch
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If you bring enough money, you can buy quota.
Since 1984, the number of people working in the industry has gone down by half. Smaller boats are struggling - just as they are in the UK.
However, the fact that Iceland is in charge of its own fish stocks does not mean that all fishermen are happy with the system.
There is criticism of the centralisation of power: the fact that a large company can own a factory, own a vessel and also own the quota.
One industry insider who did not want to be named likens this to a "mafia".
To keep fish stocks sustainable and protect the marine ecosystem, scientists from the Icelandic Marine Research Institute continually monitor Icelandic waters and provide this data to the government.
This guidance is followed to help set limits on the amount of fish that can be caught.
As under the Common Fisheries Policy, this
quota can be bought and sold.
You can't buy more quota with more money, that's just silly.
There is an enormous sustainability and conservation policy backed up by UK law over fishing. Saying you can just wave a cheque book and get more quota is simply not going to happen. I can see future international treaties being signed up between the UK, Norway, Iceland, USA etc to further protect fish stocks under a joint agreement coast-guard initiative.
The reason that UK boats have been reducing in numbers is because of the CFP and the EU setting quotas, avoiding the scientific advice and destroying fish stocks. The EU have given away UK quota for years, decimating our own industry in favour of giving it to Spain, Netherlands France and Denmark etc. It's disgusting what the EU commission has done to our territorial waters, our fish stocks and our industry.
You won't have anywhere near the quota you had under the CFP and your boats will be too uneconomical to run, especially with the license fees we will be charging.
It would be easier for you to just to buy our fish, of course at a premium because our prices will include a charge to enable money to go back into our industry so it can be funded properly to protect future UK generations and to manage our fish stocks.
Or you could fish your EU waters which stretch to about 12 miles from the border of Mainland Europe
... if you can find any fish that is.