Toby on Tuesday 

“Fish ‘n’ Ships”

 

Everyone loves ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and everyone loves Len Goodman, Britain’s nimblest 70-year old.   Mind you, Brucie is Britain’s nimblest 87-year old (on 22nd February!), but that’s another story.   In George Orwell’s ‘1984’, Room 101 was the torture chamber in the Ministry of Love.   So it’s appropriate that it’s also the name of the BBC One comedy show in which celebrities share their pet hates.   This programme definitely has it in for UKIP and, to give you a flavour, a charming lady called Ronni Ancona recently declared, “Where do you stand on Nigel Farage – on his windpipe preferably,” while our Len Goodman was accused of “sounding like a UKIP candidate” for his views on food.

To me “sounding like a UKIP candidate” is the ultimate compliment, so I thought that I’d investigate a bit more.   What our Len said was, “Sushi?   No.   Cockles and mussels and maybe a winkle.   Lovely jubbly.   We would all be healthier, fitter and happier if we could go back to the days of fish and chips.”   But thanks to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, the days of plentiful fish and chips are long gone.   Even though the UK has almost 70% of Europe’s fishing grounds, we now have only 13% of the allowable quota and need to import nearly £3 billion a year of seafood, while our own resources are literally being given away.   The Conservative Party once acknowledged this scandal and, under Michael Howard’s leadership, had a policy of repatriating fishing policy.   Almost the first thing that “Dave” Cameron did on becoming leader was to ditch this commitment.    The first UKIP Government would make the recovery of our fisheries an absolute priority.

We would start by introducing a 200-mile North Sea Exclusive Economic Zone under UK control and a 12-mile limit for UK fishermen only.   We would then introduce development funding for fleets, harbours and shipbuilding for Fishery Protection.   We would legislate for seasonal closure areas to aid spawning and replenish stocks, and for voluntary closure areas and no-trawl zones to protect shellfish grounds.   We would create fishery protected areas with no energy/aggregate exploitation and introduce ‘land what you catch’ self-management with regional control and selective fishing gear for accurate species targeting.   Above all, we would ensure that, with the scandal of discarded fish now illegal, the new scandal of fish over quota going to landfill would be prohibited.

In this way, Britain could restore herself as a maritime nation once more, instead of being a mere adjunct of a dying Continent.   And our Len Goodman could enjoy all the lovely fish and chips he wanted, even when he has seen as many glorious Summers by the seaside – hopefully in Filey – as our Brucie!

Until next Tuesday!

Toby