At the weekend, (Sat 19 Apr 2025), the UKFC provided a story to the Daily Express regarding EU factory ships hoovering up vast quantities of fish from UK waters. On the back of this, the paper’s Deputy Political Editor invited Alistair to write an opinion piece (an ‘Op Ed’) for them and we thought members might wish to read what he had to say.
The Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, is an important figure in the fishing industry. Aside from representing a constituency where fishing plays a highly significant part in life and in the local economy, Alistair is Chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
We are proud to say he is also one of the founder members of the Political Advisory Group of the UK Fisheries Campaign. His authority and presence raises our profile and influence and we are grateful to him for his wise counsel when it comes to all things political.
“Now is the time to ramp up post-Brexit protection of UK waters in EU talks”
By The Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP
I have often said that our fishers have as much interest as anyone else in ensuring the sustainability of our marine ecosystems. At the end of the day if there are no fish, there is no fishing. For an industry that still often operates passing a business down the generations that really matters.
It is also true, however, that the further a fisherman is from his home port, the less likely it is that he will care about conservation. Nowhere is this more apparent in the waters around the United Kingdom than in the industrial-scale gill net fishing of the sort done by foreign boats. Their practices are dangerous to our fishermen and destructive of our marine environment – now is the time to ramp up protection for our waters and stand up for sustainable, local fisheries management in negotiations with the EU.
Spanish gill-netting boats such as the Pesorsa Dos and the Antonio Maria have behaved like gangsters, hiving off great swathes of the sea and taking reckless actions against local fishing vessels. That lives have not been lost already has had more to do with luck than anything else.
Then there is the environmental damage from discarded gill nets – a massive cause of plastic pollution in our seas and particularly harmful to other marine life, as well as being an enormous nuisance for local fishers who feel a responsibility to clear up these “ghost nets”.
On every level this sort of fishing activity by non-local boats is unsustainable. If this sort of behaviour was happening on dry land there would be massive public outcry. When it happens at sea then it should be no different. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.
That is why the upcoming review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU is so important. It is probably the best opportunity we shall have in this decade to improve fisheries management, by making sustainability and safe behaviour a condition of access to British waters. For anyone who really cares about our marine environment that should not be a hard deal to make.
The fishing industry is rooted in the coastal communities that define our country. If we all share the interest our fishermen have in a sustainable marine environment – and we should – then we need to stand with them to secure a fair deal on the future of access to our waters.
Alistair Carmichael MP is chair of the Environment, Food/Rural Affairs Committee
Article first published by the Daily Express, 20 Apr 2025
OBSERVATIONS
This was a typically strong piece from Mr Carmichael, raising issues which might be well-known amongst the fishing community but which are news to a large proportion of the general public.
He raises gillnetting – a subject which we have just covered in a 2-part series. The first part centred on the polluting aspects of this, where tonnes of plastic netting are left on the sea floor by EU vessels.
We know this because it is British boats that trawl up this pollution on a regular basis while in the course of their fishing trips. They then take this back to port where it is disposed of correctly – something which no EU fisherman ever seems to do. Without this action, these vast nets would be left to continue doing what is known as ‘ghost fishing’ – catching all types of marine wildlife for years to come, only to rot.
We know this because it is British boats that trawl up this pollution on a regular basis while in the course of their fishing trips. They then take this back to port where it is disposed of correctly – something which no EU fisherman ever seems to do. Without this action, these vast nets would be left to continue doing what is known as ‘ghost fishing’ – catching all types of marine wildlife for years to come, only to rot.We know this because it is British boats that trawl up this pollution on a regular basis while in the course of their fishing trips. They then take this back to port where it is disposed of correctly – something which no EU fisherman ever seems to do. Without this action, these vast nets would be left to continue doing what is known as ‘ghost fishing’ – catching all types of marine wildlife for years to come, only to rot.
In the second part of this series we went on to show how these gill nets are responsible for the cruel, lingering deaths of seals, seabirds and other creatures. So distressing are these sights that we felt compelled to pixelate the thumbnail photos we published as evidence. Those readers who clicked on the thumbnails will not need reminding of just how upsetting some of the unpixelated images were. Both of these reports were covered by the national media.
Mr Carmichael also mentioned an EU vessel by the name of the Pesorsa Dos. The UK Fisheries Campaign has now produced a short and very shocking video which shows its reckless behaviour. Using footage taken from onboard a UK fishing vessel which it almost rammed, this ‘video short’ makes for compulsive viewing and we will be releasing this to a TV news station in the coming days. Alistair Carmichael has kindly agreed to be interviewed about it.
Alistair’s Op Ed for the Daily Express came about as a result of their interest in the reports we have been publishing. All of this is working, in once again raising the profile of the fishing industry in the public’s minds while at the same time informing them of what our fishermen are dealing with. With the new EU negotiations for an extension of the current deal about to start, “now is the time” (as Alistair Carmichael puts it) to put our publicity machine into overdrive. And this is where you come in. We need your support and – yes – we need your money.
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