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Petition Ensure the British fishing waters are returned to the UK post Brexit

In the 1970s Edward Heath betrayed our fisherman and our coastal communities with the Common Fisheries Policy. A leaked report now shows that the EU wants to retain control over the fish stocks in British waters.
We call on Parliament to ensure these waters and fish stocks return to Britain
More details

Much of the EU referendum was based on the idea of reclaiming the fish stocks in British waters. It became a key aspect of sovereignty. It would be an absolute failure for the government and parliament to allow the CFP to continue when the chance to rebuild the coastal fishing communities of Britain are so close.
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At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition
At 100,000 signatures...

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament
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    Created by Thomas Lewis
    Deadline 24 August 2017

Done.

Has this petition gone viral?eg facebook etc,i think it would be a good idea if not.

Signed.
Now lets get it viral !
Just looked on petitions map and Grimsby / Cleethorpes constituents only accounting for 0.02% out of 94,000 +
Surely areas such as these ( who have/ had fishing industries should be much higher than the 0.02% so far.
Utm

Done...

Done.

Done.

Done - Number 4965 apparently!

If they haven't already, the telewag should pick this up. A campaign like this would obviously breed A new lease of life to the fishing industry and is just what our town needs.

Done

Done  5234

Everybody share and spread on your social media -this was a biggie in the democratically decided will of the people to choose sovereignity. Those fat cat bureaucratic leeches will try and eek all they can like always have and we can thank them for the demise of our town's industry. Time for it to stop!

Seems to be rising fairly rapidly, which is good to see.

Done  5802 now

Quoted from Rik e B

Everybody share and spread on your social media -this was a biggie in the democratically decided will of the people to choose sovereignity. Those fat cat bureaucratic leeches will try and eek all they can like always have and we can thank them for the demise of our town's industry. Time for it to stop!

Done...I campaigned to Remain but the document mentioned in the preamble to the petition states that there is a high likelihood that the Government led by May will be prepared to sacrifice the (alleged) 11,000 jobs directly involved in the fishing industry in order to get what the Government wants for other parts of industry in the Brexit negotiations.

Oh and 5948th.

Signed, now 6,486

Like Barra, I'm a Remainer, but signed it for obvious reasons. No point being out otherwise. This campaign is important because the fishing industry has already been sacrificed once in the interests of trade deals. We don't want it to happen again.

I'd encourage you to write to your MP too, including those of us who are exiled.

6743  and done

Forgive me for my ignorance but I'm not completely clear what the petition is asking for. Are fishing waters and fishing stocks not two separate things? Are our fishing waters not governed by geography and our fish stocks at risk if quotas are scrapped?

Quoted from Vance Warner

Forgive me for my ignorance but I'm not completely clear what the petition is asking for. Are fishing waters and fishing stocks not two separate things? Are our fishing waters not governed by geography and our fish stocks at risk if quotas are scrapped?

It's about getting rid of the Common Fisheries Policy - there is a fear that as part of the exit negotiations the British government will agree to continue the UK's membership of the scheme. The CFP basically treats the territorial waters of EU member states as a common asset in respect of fish stocks, and sets quotas for member states.

It was basically a stitch up added at the last minute by the original 6 members (Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, NL and Luxembourg) which gave them access to UK, Danish and Irish waters when we joined. Greenland was also a member until it became independent of Denmark in the 80s. So it was lucrative for the fishing industries of those other countries. So basically we had to share our fish stocks with all those other countries and couldn't just do what Iceland did.

There is a lot of criticism of the conservation measures set by the CFP. Some of them are counter-productive.

Hate to say it, but if you think Mayhem and the Tory Party will ever give a flying feck about the fishing industry, you're badly mistaken. Look where all the major British fishing ports are located. Few of them are Tory areas, exactly the opposite, in fact. The Tories look after their own interests first and foremost and fishing is not one of these interests. They will have bigger fish to fry, so to speak. Unfortunately, though the concept of reclaiming territorial waters is reasonable if we're going to leave the EU, this petition will prove as pointless as the one calling for Trump to be denied a State visit because it will be pretty much ignored.

Done & posted on other Social media.
Being an ex fisherman of 15 years I would love to see a thriving, sustainable and profitable fishing industry.
Getting our waters back was one of the reasons I voted Leave 👍

At least 3 generations of my family have either been fishing or worked on the fish docks.

Signed, now over 7,360

Quoted from Maringer

Hate to say it, but if you think Mayhem and the Tory Party will ever give a flying feck about the fishing industry, you're badly mistaken. Look where all the major British fishing ports are located. Few of them are Tory areas, exactly the opposite, in fact. The Tories look after their own interests first and foremost and fishing is not one of these interests. They will have bigger fish to fry, so to speak. Unfortunately, though the concept of reclaiming territorial waters is reasonable if we're going to leave the EU, this petition will prove as pointless as the one calling for Trump to be denied a State visit because it will be pretty much ignored.

For Christ's sake they've got Cleethorpes - clearly people have got short memories. They've already got most of Devon and Cornwall - pretty strong fishing areas. They are second in the Cornish seats they haven't got. In fact if you look at the map they have the vast majority of coastal areas in England. Id say they have a lot at stake.

Quoted from Maringer

Hate to say it, but if you think Mayhem and the Tory Party will ever give a flying feck about the fishing industry, you're badly mistaken. Look where all the major British fishing ports are located. Few of them are Tory areas, exactly the opposite, in fact. The Tories look after their own interests first and foremost and fishing is not one of these interests. They will have bigger fish to fry, so to speak. Unfortunately, though the concept of reclaiming territorial waters is reasonable if we're going to leave the EU, this petition will prove as pointless as the one calling for Trump to be denied a State visit because it will be pretty much ignored.

Your 100% correct about the Tories and their resent of the working man, it's inherent throughout their history, behaviour & beliefs. But and this is a big but when you stop pushing back it allows our self appointed lords and masters to take free reign, don't FFS let this happen!  

What has been before may never be replicated but others cannot be allowed to destroy what remains!

Looks like a lot of us are getting red crosses for signing the petition-I wonder why

Signed.
now at 8508

This petition does show the importance of the role of Parliament in Brexit negotiations. Giving any Government a free rein in a "Just get on with it" scenario could spell disaster and not just for the fishing industry.

Signed 8895

Quoted from golfer

Looks like a lot of us are getting red crosses for signing the petition-I wonder why

Maybe they don't like fish.

Done 9017

Hey Maringer what's your answer we moan and do nothing or vote labour? Same thing really.

If the government were to insist on a return of all fishing rights in our territorial waters, you can be pretty certain that we'll leave the EU without any sort of an overall deal whatsoever. All it will take is for one country to veto any agreed deal and you can be pretty certain that the Spanish, Dutch, Danes, French etc won't possibly agree to us unilaterally saying that all these waters are ours once again. There will obviously be some sort of nuance in any agreement or we'll actually end up in a trade war of sorts - Cod War Mk. II, anybody? I'm personally guessing that this will be the most likely outcome.

As with everything, it's an incredibly complex situation and here is quite an interesting note about some of the issues regarding what might occur with the fisheries following Brexit:

http://ukandeu.ac.uk/what-would-brexit-really-mean-for-the-uks-fishing-industry/

Obviously taken from a pro-Remain site and written before the referendum, but the points still stand.

My point earlier was that, if it stops half the financial sector decamping to Frankfurt, the government will happily all but give away what is left of our fishing rights. Their first priority is going to be finance which is our only real remaining 'industry'.

I'll be copulated if you think I'm working on a stinky flipping trawler. I've been to heritage centre, looks like a shitty way of life to me.

Ridiculous. You think that an industry is magically going to re-appear? Who's going to invest in this newly reinvigorated fishing industry? Where are all the boats and supporting infrastructure going to come from? Fishing as an industry is gone. And much like the fish stocks, it isn't coming back any time soon. Quit looking to the past.

Quoted from Dan

I'll be copulated if you think I'm working on a stinky flipping trawler. I've been to heritage centre, looks like a shitty way of life to me.

Ridiculous. You think that an industry is magically going to re-appear? Who's going to invest in this newly reinvigorated fishing industry? Where are all the boats and supporting infrastructure going to come from? Fishing as an industry is gone. And much like the fish stocks, it isn't coming back any time soon. Quit looking to the past.

Idiot.

He words it idiotically, but I'm afraid I think he's right.

Quoted from Dan

I'll be copulated if you think I'm working on a stinky flipping trawler. I've been to heritage centre, looks like a shitty way of life to me.

Ridiculous. You think that an industry is magically going to re-appear? Who's going to invest in this newly reinvigorated fishing industry? Where are all the boats and supporting infrastructure going to come from? Fishing as an industry is gone. And much like the fish stocks, it isn't coming back any time soon. Quit looking to the past.

Lets all tug our forelocks and comply with what we are told to do then, throughout history if people had done that you boss at work would possibly now be The Earl of Yarborough or someone similar.  

The EU wasn't the cause of the decline in our fishing industry but a cause of the Cod Wars when we were basically fishing in Iceland's waters which of course caused a rumpus. Brexit won't solve the fishing, agricultural problems and immigration will probably remain as high. We'll just have less trade and therefore a smaller economy. Neither are the Tory government at fault. The only thing they are at fault for is giving the country a referendum and therefore an opportunity for mass failure.

Quoted from Mariner_09

The EU wasn't the cause of the decline in our fishing industry but a cause of the Cod Wars when we were basically fishing in Iceland's waters which of course caused a rumpus. Brexit won't solve the fishing, agricultural problems and immigration will probably remain as high. We'll just have less trade and therefore a smaller economy. Neither are the Tory government at fault. The only thing they are at fault for is giving the country a referendum and therefore an opportunity for mass failure.

??)

Quoted from Dan

Fishing as an industry is gone. And much like the fish stocks, it isn't coming back any time soon.

The most likely outcome, if we did get back full control of our fishing waters, would be either EU ships registering as British for a fee or new ships bought by 'British' companies, registered as British but crewed by Europeans.

Maringer,  it would be Cod War 4 if it did  happen...

Most of your points are very pertinent. The mass population have been fed mass inaccuracies by the murdoch influenced media. Those that think the EU led to the downturn of the fishing industry are wrong and by simply exiting the EU the will be a return the fishing industry is just crazy.

The government had their chance to support fishing industry by coming to a benefical agreement with Iceland during the 3rd cod war and prevent an industry in decline being wiped out. They didn't.

The old industrial activities such as coal minning  shipbuidling,  steel, manufacturing have been constantly undermined and discarded by governments in favour of the industries that have lined the pockets of the few (the financial sector is a disgrace). Look at the way the North is regarded when London and the SE constantly expand, regenerate and are found money..

The end of the day whats ours is ours, why let them have fukk all? Get rid of foreign aid while we are at it!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Lets all tug our forelocks and comply with what we are told to do then, throughout history if people had done that you boss at work would possibly now be The Earl of Yarborough or someone similar.  

I'm not sure what your point is? There is massive investment in renewable energy in N. E Lincs, and yet people are still harking back to the 70's thinking they can go steal Icelands fishing stocks. There is nothing left in Grimsby to even remotely suggest it's viable to return the area to a fishing port. What's more, why would we even want that? From everything I've heard it sounds like an absolutely rotten way of life. I'm not saying GY is backward looking...but it might do the town some good if it looked to the future instead of the past.

Quoted from Dan

I'm not sure what your point is? There is massive investment in renewable energy in N. E Lincs, and yet people are still harking back to the 70's thinking they can go steal Icelands fishing stocks. There is nothing left in Grimsby to even remotely suggest it's viable to return the area to a fishing port. What's more, why would we even want that? From everything I've heard it sounds like an absolutely rotten way of life. I'm not saying GY is backward looking...but it might do the town some good if it looked to the future instead of the past.

Bold assertion, and you might be right, but do consider the big fish market, the large docks, and the enormous sea all right there....

Quoted from monkeyboy

The end of the day whats ours is ours, why let them have fukk all? Get rid of foreign aid while we are at it!

Genuine questions:- Are fishing rights and territorial waters the same?
                              Who decides what the fishing limits are? (Is it someone outside of the E.U.?)
                              If it's 50 miles how does that work in the Channel? Fifty miles would give us the right to fish further than the Allies advanced on D-Day. Best tell the French to guard their rivers and village ponds...

Where's Lew Chatterley's Lover when you need him telling the OP to b*gger off to the non football section? ;)

Quoted from Dan

I'll be copulated if you think I'm working on a stinky flipping trawler. I've been to heritage centre, looks like a shitty way of life to me.

Ridiculous. You think that an industry is magically going to re-appear? Who's going to invest in this newly reinvigorated fishing industry? Where are all the boats and supporting infrastructure going to come from? Fishing as an industry is gone. And much like the fish stocks, it isn't coming back any time soon. Quit looking to the past.

I worked on plenty of stinky trawlers..
Not even a toilet or washing facilities, damp bunks, soaking wet gear, bad weather and working for days on end with very little sleep on most of em but that's the way it was so I got on with it to put food on the table.
I don't look at those days through Rose tints because it was fooking hard going but it was outweighed by sailing with some great blokes and some of the hardest illegitimates you could images.
This Town was built on the back of the fishing industry and its people so a bit of respect I don't thing would go amiss..

I agree that we as a country could not generate a full fishing fleet at the drop of a hat so would probably have to have some sort of licensing system (which we can profit off)for foreign trawlers until we could build up our own fleet again.
The fishing industry is still contributing millions of pounds to the country's coffers and imo would be worth a lot more with the UK running its own waters..
By the way the North Sea fish stock are very good at the moment.

Quoted from Dan

I'm not sure what your point is? There is massive investment in renewable energy in N. E Lincs, and yet people are still harking back to the 70's thinking they can go steal Icelands fishing stocks. There is nothing left in Grimsby to even remotely suggest it's viable to return the area to a fishing port. What's more, why would we even want that? From everything I've heard it sounds like an absolutely rotten way of life. I'm not saying GY is backward looking...but it might do the town some good if it looked to the future instead of the past.

I actually agree with you about the renewables, new investment etc.. and from what my family have told me fishing was a very tough way of life but one that many of my relatives actually loved. Grimsby is not the only community that should look forward but IMHO it should never forget it's heritage and if this petition awakens some of that spirit it's fine by me.

I live in Herts mate and have lived in other places in the South too in my experience the rest of the UK is not that forward looking. My point was more generic to be honest and it was about of people believe in something is unfair/wrong they should exercise their right to push back.

Quoted from Maringer

If the government were to insist on a return of all fishing rights in our territorial waters, you can be pretty certain that we'll leave the EU without any sort of an overall deal whatsoever. All it will take is for one country to veto any agreed deal and you can be pretty certain that the Spanish, Dutch, Danes, French etc won't possibly agree to us unilaterally saying that all these waters are ours once again. There will obviously be some sort of nuance in any agreement or we'll actually end up in a trade war of sorts - Cod War Mk. II, anybody? I'm personally guessing that this will be the most likely outcome.

As with everything, it's an incredibly complex situation and here is quite an interesting note about some of the issues regarding what might occur with the fisheries following Brexit:

http://ukandeu.ac.uk/what-would-brexit-really-mean-for-the-uks-fishing-industry/

Obviously taken from a pro-Remain site and written before the referendum, but the points still stand.

My point earlier was that, if it stops half the financial sector decamping to Frankfurt, the government will happily all but give away what is left of our fishing rights. Their first priority is going to be finance which is our only real remaining 'industry'.

It might be but you've got to give them (the UK government) a nudge. There are plenty of votes up for grabs. Or you could just give up and let them get on with protecting the City at the expense of anything else. And sure there's a lot of vested interests in other countries who might want their governments to veto deals that don't suit them. So what are we going to do? Just give everyone else what they want? As Tagg has hinted, there are options to be discussed.

Quoted from Grim74

Done 9017

Hey Maringer what's your answer we moan and do nothing or vote labour? Same thing really.

The Labour Party is the only party that has ever looked after working people in this country. From the NHS to workers rights, that's why the greedy establishment is so frightened of Corbyn.

Quoted from codcheeky

The Labour Party is the only party that has ever looked after working people in this country. From the NHS to workers rights, that's why the greedy establishment is so frightened of Corbyn.

Are you talking about the Blair and Brown Labour Party years when they were busy trashing the economy, the NHS, and education sending us to illegal wars,increasing the public sector, introducing  zero hours contracts for the private sector,, political flipping correctness, allowing criminals to abuse the human rights act, suppressing the wages of the working class by opening the gates to mass immigration without even asking the British public, and giving our rights away to Brussels, etc, etc,

Or is it the one before with Wilson and Callaghan in which they did there absolute best to trash the Country leaving everbody worse off, culminating with just about every public service on strike, hospitals closed, and dead bodies not being buried, but then you would probably see this socialist dogma of envy as progression.

I'd probably lay off the weed for a while

Can we please not turn this thread into a political rant. The fishing industry is close to the heart of many of us and i don't care what your politics are on this particular issue.

Decided to delete my last post in recognition of the political neutrality of the original post.

I presume the conditions aboard are a lot better now. The big ships being better than what a lot have ashore. Decent food too.
Regular-ish work/wage. I cant see it how it can be worse than the crap that a lot of people in these zero hours contract type jobs have to put up with
Then when you add in the amount of jobs onshore, what was it, 4 jobs for every man at sea

Done 14552

Quoted from Mariner_09

The EU wasn't the cause of the decline in our fishing industry but a cause of the Cod Wars when we were basically fishing in Iceland's waters which of course caused a rumpus. Brexit won't solve the fishing, agricultural problems and immigration will probably remain as high. We'll just have less trade and therefore a smaller economy. Neither are the Tory government at fault. The only thing they are at fault for is giving the country a referendum and therefore an opportunity for mass failure.

The Cod wars came about because Iceland decided it was going to have a 200 mile fishing zone that no one else could enter. It did this with the backing of the US after it told the States to back it or remove their bases from Iceland. The US put pressure on us to back down and a labour MP refused minimum access as an offer by Iceland only to get told later there is now no access because that offer was all that was on the table.

The EU crippled what was left by fishing quotas and allowing easy access for other countries to strip our waters of fish which exacerbated the stock pushing further quotas. Had we not been in the EU we could have managed the stock ourselves and not lost almost everything over night.

Quoted from Marinerz93

The Cod wars came about because Iceland decided it was going to have a 200 mile fishing zone that no one else could enter. It did this with the backing of the US after it told the States to back it or remove their bases from Iceland. The US put pressure on us to back down and a labour MP refused minimum access as an offer by Iceland only to get told later there is now no access because that offer was all that was on the table.

The EU crippled what was left by fishing quotas and allowing easy access for other countries to strip our waters of fish which exacerbated the stock pushing further quotas. Had we not been in the EU we could have managed the stock ourselves and not lost almost everything over night.

The British Government were offered a quota system by the Icelandics when they announced their 200 mile limit but this was rejected at the time. Yet amazingly we accepted a quota system by the EU to fish our own waters! You couldn't make it up!

Quoted from ginnywings

Can we please not turn this thread into a political rant. The fishing industry is close to the heart of many of us and i don't care what your politics are on this particular issue.

is it possible t split the two?

Quoted from Marinerz93

The Cod wars came about because Iceland decided it was going to have a 200 mile fishing zone that no one else could enter. It did this with the backing of the US after it told the States to back it or remove their bases from Iceland. The US put pressure on us to back down and a labour MP refused minimum access as an offer by Iceland only to get told later there is now no access because that offer was all that was on the table.

The EU crippled what was left by fishing quotas and allowing easy access for other countries to strip our waters of fish which exacerbated the stock pushing further quotas. Had we not been in the EU we could have managed the stock ourselves and not lost almost everything over night.

In the brilliant Channel 4 two part documentary "Fish and Ships" the manager of Consolidated Fisheries who was involved in the negotiations said that despite trawler owners from throughout the U.K. telling the Government (Labour) that we didn't have sufficent tonnage to catch the quota they were negotiating on they persisted and got knocked back totally in the end. I think the figure was 180,000 tonne per annum but its a long time since I've seen it..

Quoted from barralad

In the brilliant Channel 4 two part documentary "Fish and Ships" the manager of Consolidated Fisheries who was involved in the negotiations said that despite trawler owners from throughout the U.K. telling the Government (Labour) that we didn't have sufficent tonnage to catch the quota they were negotiating on they persisted and got knocked back totally in the end. I think the figure was 180,000 tonne per annum but its a long time since I've seen it..

[youtube]WTz20yuf7lk[/youtube]

and

[youtube]eC5P56FK0H8[/youtube]

Are these the ones you mean Ian.

Quoted from TAGG

I worked on plenty of stinky trawlers..
Not even a toilet or washing facilities, damp bunks, soaking wet gear, bad weather and working for days on end with very little sleep on most of em but that's the way it was so I got on with it to put food on the table.
I don't look at those days through Rose tints because it was fooking hard going but it was outweighed by sailing with some great blokes and some of the hardest illegitimates you could images.
This Town was built on the back of the fishing industry and its people so a bit of respect I don't thing would go amiss..

I agree that we as a country could not generate a full fishing fleet at the drop of a hat so would probably have to have some sort of licensing system (which we can profit off)for foreign trawlers until we could build up our own fleet again.
The fishing industry is still contributing millions of pounds to the country's coffers and imo would be worth a lot more with the UK running its own waters..
By the way the North Sea fish stock are very good at the moment.

Crowd funding could kick start our old industry back into life, breathe life into the ice house and rebuild the units on dock side. Maybe I am being nostalgic but for those who know what the fish docks used to be like compared to now I bet would love to see that part of our Town regenerate.

Quoted from Marinerz93

Crowd funding could kick start our old industry back into life, breathe life into the ice house and rebuild the units on dock side. Maybe I am being nostalgic but for those who know what the fish docks used to be like compared to now I bet would love to see that part of our Town regenerate.

Only 20 years ago for me and the hardest work I have ever done, but the best money I have ever been paid even to this day.

Thank fook were getting out of the EU
Bully boys

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/fury-european-parliament-threat-no-free-trade-seafood-without/

Quoted from TAGG

Thank fook were getting out of the EU
Bully boys

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/fury-european-parliament-threat-no-free-trade-seafood-without/

So how does 200 miles work then apart from the Atlantic/North of Scotland assuming the Dutch/Belgians/French and the rest get their 200 miles. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious...

Nothing against the people signing it but an increase in activity from the UK will send fish stocks back down to the low levels they were at a few years ago.

It's a no from me.

Quoted from Grantley

Nothing against the people signing it but an increase in activity from the UK will send fish stocks back down to the low levels they were at a few years ago.

It's a no from me.

No they won't.
The first thing is that we haven't got a fishing fleet left that is big enough(yet) to wipe out stocks. If you take EU vessels out of the equation that leaves tons of catch not taken.
Second there is no way that there would not be a sustainable catch/bycatch system put in place for British or any licenced foreign vessel that may be allowed in British waters.
Thirdly if as they say they will not allow the UK to export fish to them that may harm the industry in the short term but in the long term we can export to the rest of the world. I know SE Asia alone would easily make up what the EU take.

Done. 25,975 and counting.

Quoted from TAGG

No they won't.
The first thing is that we haven't got a fishing fleet left that is big enough(yet) to wipe out stocks. If you take EU vessels out of the equation that leaves tons of catch not taken.
Second there is no way that there would not be a sustainable catch/bycatch system put in place for British or any licenced foreign vessel that may be allowed in British waters.
Thirdly if as they say they will not allow the UK to export fish to them that may harm the industry in the short term but in the long term we can export to the rest of the world. I know SE Asia alone would easily make up what the EU take.

Spot on TAGG! The sooner we get our independence back the better.

The government responded to this petition today 👍🏼

On leaving the EU, the UK will control fisheries access in its Exclusive Economic Zone and manage those waters in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

As a coastal state outside the EU, the UK will be responsible, under international law, for control of UK waters and the sustainable management of fisheries within the UK’s Exclusive economic Zone. The UK will negotiate as an independent coastal state.

We want to use this opportunity to create a resilient, competitive and ultimately more profitable UK Seafood sector, and deliver a cleaner, healthier and more productive marine environment. We will work to achieve the best possible deal for the whole of the UK fishing industry in negotiations.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The problem I have with this statement is it comes from politicians.  They sound promising but by the time they have formed committees to deliver what they say, it ends up as a calamity of epic proportions.

Instead of getting together with "experts" who have come through a university, miles inland, why won't they come down dock and ask a real fisherman who has actually been to sea and understands the problems and has the answers to the problems.

Politicians would fcuk paradise up within a couple of meetings.

Rant over, up the Mariners