Red tape has always been wrapped tightly round the UK fishing industry and since Britain joined the EU in 1973, fishermen say that there has been a gradual reduction in fishing rights and the application of ever more regulation that from their realistic perspective makes no sense.

The fish in the seas around the UK have already felt the effect of warming waters as a result of climate change, and many species, including cod, have migrated to cooler areas like North-East Scotland, where they are reported by fishermen to be flourishing but restricted from fishing by legislation. The fishing industry wants to be able to do what fishermen through the ages have always done, and that is to follow the healthy fish stocks as they move to new areas but EU fishing quotas, which fishermen believe are based on incomplete data, are preventing the full exploitation of the migrated stocks. Fishermen believe that increasing quotas in the newly established healthy populations will have little impact in overall stocks.

A recent study published by the North Sea Foundation considered the carbon footprint of fisheries worldwide and reported that: 

‘Fuel use (and consequently greenhouse gas emissions) varies considerably depending on the fishery. Fishing on depleted fish stocks requires more fuel per kilo landed fish than fishing on abundant fish stocks, because low fish abundance forces fishers to search longer and use heavier gear to catch the fish. If fish stocks were allowed to recover, less fuel would be needed to catch the same amount of fish. In addition, enhancing fish abundance will allow fish populations to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change’.

There is full agreement as this report underlines, that the continuing management, by sensible quotas, for specific species in areas of reduced stocks will need to continue while monitoring stocks to judge the change in species types as sea temperatures rise.

The fishing industry in UK waters has changed dramatically since the 1990’s with a huge reduction in the number of small boats and the transition to much larger, and more fuel- efficient ships, able as they must, to travel further to avoid quotas. With the numerically smaller fleet there has been a corresponding reduction in emissions and as new transitional fuels are integrated to replace red diesel at comparable prices there is every reason to be confident of the continued fuel and emissions sustainability of the industry if quota management and legislation allow.