Northern England

Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,

It must be clear by now to every British citizen that the E.U. has a covert agenda to destroy the U.K. fishing industry which was planned 30 years ago by fanatical Federalist politicians in Brussels. The Common Fishery Policy that was agreed then, allegedly to protect fish stocks, has killed more fish than it conserved and is seen as an unmitigated disaster by the only people who do work year in year out on the sea. The fishermen! Not the scientists who are under the political control of the bosses who fund them. To describe them as independent experts is a farce! The total destruction of our coastal communities, with many thousands of decent hard-working folk put on the scrap-heap is a criminal act of lunacy. How would Mr and Mrs Blair react if the EU closed down the British legal system and replaced it with lawyers from Spain? The fishermen are faced with one of two choices 1. tie their boats up, put the crews on the dole and go bankrupt, or 2. go to sea, catch fish and be made criminals of, with £50000 fines and face jail! What would You do? We have evidence in the Irish Sea that the stocks are better now than seven years ago, yet unelected bureaucrats and 'ministers' in Brussels are still determined to shut the industry down, whilst hiding the real reasons behind this political mayhem, namely the entry into the EU of ten new entrants, some with large fishing fleets, which under the EU equal access rules must be given quotas and T.A.C.s, hence the steady reduction annually of our share of the EU total catch. By bribing with tax-payers' money the owners to take the easy way out, just adds insult to injury. I was a skipper / owner of fishing vessels for over 30 years but despair at the lies and deceit being worked on decent men by unscrupulous self-serving politician on a gullible U.K. public. The only realistic solution is to exit the C.F.P. but also the EU itself and take back control of our own seas.

Yours, Frank Clarkson, Skipper Retired