Atlantic overfishing was already a problem. Then Brexit happened | An investigation by the Guardian, NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung shows fish stocks being depleted in the north-east Atlantic – because there’s no system to agree on quotas

6 comments

  2. >“The reality is that everyone is only defending their own national interests – and nobody cares about the environment,” says Javier Lopez, a campaign director at Oceana, an NGO focused on ocean health.

    Everyone is “defending their own national interest” right up until the fisheries collapse and no one has anything.

    You can’t escape game theory and the Tragedy of the Commons. No amount of knowledge, foresight, education, information, and academic papers can replace a system to enforce cooperation.

  3. Two things needed to save the planet, political will and a common legal framework. The plebs just did not understand this when they voted for Brexit. Should have taken on the politics and not the framework, the public was blindsided by self serving politicians whose outlook only extends as far as their next career milestone.

  4. The quota recommended by scientists and distributed by zonal attachments is the only safe and fair way to distribute stocks.

    Russia and the EU will never agree to that though as they feel entitled to other countries resources.

  5. The problem isn’t Brexit, the problem is that the pre-Brexit status quo was inherently unfair and severely disadvantaged the British fishing industry by denying UK-based fisheries a proportionate amount of quotas. This meant that practically half of the catch caught in the British Exclusive Economic Zone was caught not by Britain, but by EU member states.

    There is no legal basis to the EU claim that it has a historical right to fish in British waters, this was settled long ago in the Cod Wars when the UK made the exact same claim against Iceland.

    A readjustment is required where the EU acknowledges the UK as an independent state and relinquishes it’s claims to a substantial portion of British fishery resources. Until the EU learns this, it is not possible for a reasonable agreement to be made.

  6. Fishmongers are shortsighted bozos and the politicians are enabling their stupid practices.

    Ban industrial fishing for a decade. Not just in the Atlantic but globally if we want for our children to know what a fish meal tastes like.

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