Practically every person in the town and indeed from the far flung corners of these isles has an innate sympathy for the fishermen of Hastings. After all they have had a very rough time of things for the last 20 – 30 years. Ever since the days when Ted Heath committed the ultimate treachery of giving away the sovereignty of the UK to the faceless hordes of the then ‘Common Market’, the fishermen of Hastings and of every other fishing fleet in the UK, have seen their livelihoods slowly being taken away from them.
As part of the negotiations for the UK to be admitted into the Common Market, the Europeans, with their tongues firmly stuck in their cheeks, demanded that 100% of the rich fishing grounds around the UK, be put into ‘melting pot’ of Europe to be divided ‘fairly’ amongst the other nations in the club. Nobody was more surprised than the Europeans when Heath said ‘OK’ and laughing behind their hands they graciously gave the UK back just 16% of our own fishing grounds. Over the years this decision has only been compounded by successive British governments and their dogged determination to give every birth right away to Europe.
As a result, the British fishing industry was decimated with whole fleets having disappeared from the seas around our coastline. However, although the British boats have disappeared, there are still vast numbers of boats fishing our waters, well there were until all of the fish were taken. Unfortunately those boats fly the flags of France and Spain primarily. Not the little boats that we see looking pretty on Hastings beach but huge factory ships with massive nets that ‘hoover’ the sea clean of all fish. We are proudly informed that the Hastings fleet is the largest beach launched fleet in Europe. Doesn’t the word ‘Fleet’ sound wonderful but how many are in ‘our’ fleet? 10 – 12?, with a combined catching capacity way below that of just one of those huge factory boats that have now practically destroyed any chance of the seas recovering in the foreseeable future. But fear not because our benign masters in Brussels now permit the Hastings boats to fish 3% of the total catch with half of the catch being thrown back dead because its too big or too small or the wrong make. Well I suppose that is better than nothing – just.
What I can’t understand however is the fishermen’s slavish loyalty to the three main parties, each of which is committed to retaining the status quo. The Liberal Democrats will of course do anything that Brussels demands without question; in fact they will probably suggest it in the first place! The Tories may huff & puff a bit but ultimately they will wring their hands and say ‘It’s European law, there’s nothing we can do”. Michael Foster, our New Labour MP (for now) may go dashing off to Brussels and have ‘very interesting’ talks but please don’t hold your breath if you are expecting a breakthrough.
I think that it really is about time that the fishermen of Hastings, Rye, Hull and any other fishing community in England WAKE UP and smell the coffee. The Lib/Lab/Con party is going to do little to nothing for you. Their allegiance is to their masters in Westminster and ultimately Brussels. The only chance you have of not being reduced to becoming a ‘Living Piece of Art‘ a’ la the Jerwood Gallery at best, or a mere tourist attraction providing ‘Trips around the harbour’ (Sorry I forgot about European Health & Safety Laws, scrub the trips) at worst, is to join with the English Democrats and withdraw totally from political control from Brussels and reclaim your own livelihood.
As part of the negotiations for the UK to be admitted into the Common Market, the Europeans, with their tongues firmly stuck in their cheeks, demanded that 100% of the rich fishing grounds around the UK, be put into ‘melting pot’ of Europe to be divided ‘fairly’ amongst the other nations in the club. Nobody was more surprised than the Europeans when Heath said ‘OK’ and laughing behind their hands they graciously gave the UK back just 16% of our own fishing grounds. Over the years this decision has only been compounded by successive British governments and their dogged determination to give every birth right away to Europe.
As a result, the British fishing industry was decimated with whole fleets having disappeared from the seas around our coastline. However, although the British boats have disappeared, there are still vast numbers of boats fishing our waters, well there were until all of the fish were taken. Unfortunately those boats fly the flags of France and Spain primarily. Not the little boats that we see looking pretty on Hastings beach but huge factory ships with massive nets that ‘hoover’ the sea clean of all fish. We are proudly informed that the Hastings fleet is the largest beach launched fleet in Europe. Doesn’t the word ‘Fleet’ sound wonderful but how many are in ‘our’ fleet? 10 – 12?, with a combined catching capacity way below that of just one of those huge factory boats that have now practically destroyed any chance of the seas recovering in the foreseeable future. But fear not because our benign masters in Brussels now permit the Hastings boats to fish 3% of the total catch with half of the catch being thrown back dead because its too big or too small or the wrong make. Well I suppose that is better than nothing – just.
What I can’t understand however is the fishermen’s slavish loyalty to the three main parties, each of which is committed to retaining the status quo. The Liberal Democrats will of course do anything that Brussels demands without question; in fact they will probably suggest it in the first place! The Tories may huff & puff a bit but ultimately they will wring their hands and say ‘It’s European law, there’s nothing we can do”. Michael Foster, our New Labour MP (for now) may go dashing off to Brussels and have ‘very interesting’ talks but please don’t hold your breath if you are expecting a breakthrough.
I think that it really is about time that the fishermen of Hastings, Rye, Hull and any other fishing community in England WAKE UP and smell the coffee. The Lib/Lab/Con party is going to do little to nothing for you. Their allegiance is to their masters in Westminster and ultimately Brussels. The only chance you have of not being reduced to becoming a ‘Living Piece of Art‘ a’ la the Jerwood Gallery at best, or a mere tourist attraction providing ‘Trips around the harbour’ (Sorry I forgot about European Health & Safety Laws, scrub the trips) at worst, is to join with the English Democrats and withdraw totally from political control from Brussels and reclaim your own livelihood.
On of the biggest injustices was when this happened the EU gave Spain (then still a struggling nation emerging from the Franco era) vast amounts of Money to buy and update it's fishing fleets and ports.
ReplyDeleteNot only did we hand over the fishing waters, we helped pay for the boats that over compete.