Atomic Systems

We are used to thinking that since the EU common fisheries policy, the UK fishing industry has been ruined, dwarfed by countries such as Spain. I was therefore surprised to see these approximate figures for the annual catches in thousands of tonnes of the top 3 countries in 2007

Spain 740000
Denmark 650000
UK 610000

It is perhaps possible that these figures are catches landed in these countries, though that is not stated.

Tony

I don't think so, Tony. I admit it's been 3 years since I last looked at this, but quotas are based on several things, and measurements are usually taken over the whole EU as a whole. (They do like to think of it as one United States of Europe after all!)

In the case of Spain, their fishing fleet is over twice the size of the UK (both in tonnage and number of boats) and some allowance is made for local communities, eg those which rely on fishing for food (more the case in Spain). Denmark is less clear; they have fewer boats than the UK, but a large proportion of their catch is 'sand eels', whatever they are (sound ghastly!) Presumably these are not in short supply, unlike the more usual N. Sea stuff we eat.

We might also note that France is close behind in fourth place, mainly tuna and pilchard

The whole Common Fisheries Policy is a mess, anyway, always comming second in the general haggling by nations (not all have shore lines, of course). A true 'tragedy of the commons'

Cheers

Roger

The real problem was that the quotas were for landed fish, and fish thrown dead back into the sea were not counted. A huge waste resulted... but it sounds as though at least one element of common sense will now be involved.

Kromaatikse wrote:The real problem was that the quotas were for landed fish, and fish thrown dead back into the sea were not counted. A huge waste resulted... but it sounds as though at least one element of common sense will now be involved.

amazes me its taken so long to realize how stupid it is!