UK fishing and Brexit
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2020
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The UK fishing industry will be central to EU trade negotiations, starting soon. David Aaronovitch explores why a sector, which contributes very little to the overall economy, has gained such political and cultural importance.
He asks why there is such a mismatch between the kind of fish we catch and the kind of fish we eat. When did cod become so central to our diets?
With his guests, he also traces the industry's relationship with the EU down the decades.
To what extent did the imposition of EU quotas reduce the amount of fish UK boats catch? And should fishing now expect a 'Brexit bounce'?
Contributors:
Hazel Curtis, director of Seafish
Nick Fisher, fisherman and author
John Lichfield, journalist
Dr Jill Wakefield, University of Warwick.
Dr Bryce Stewart, University of York
Producers: Kirsteen Knight, Jordan Dunbar and Rosamund Jones. Editor: Penny Murphy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.7 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:10.0 | Inside the briefing room every week, we connect the experts who know what they're talking about |
| 0:14.5 | with the subject you need to understand. |
| 0:17.6 | And after 28 minutes, you and me too, know something about the world that we didn't |
| 0:22.1 | before. This week, as Britain heads for big trade talks with the EU, we take a look at the |
| 0:27.9 | position of one of our most romanticised and politically charged industries, fishing. |
| 0:43.1 | Once, hardy Britons trawled the oceans for silver darlings Or took their small boats to the rough coastal waters |
| 0:46.3 | Without fear or favour |
| 0:48.1 | Or such is the image |
| 0:49.9 | It's there on the deep that we harvest and reap. |
| 0:57.0 | Then, the story goes, it was taken away from us. |
| 1:01.0 | Our coastal communities really need the revival of their fishing industry back. |
| 1:06.0 | The common fisheries policy got to go has been a disaster. |
| 1:14.6 | Wasn't it scandalous what we heard about the cod supplies? 92% of the quota not going to British fishermen, but going to continental fishermen. |
| 1:21.6 | We want our waters back so we can have it for our south, for future. |
| 1:26.6 | We all the same in luck out, for future. |
| 1:39.3 | The phony war is over, and proper trade negotiations with the EU will start in a few weeks. |
| 1:43.5 | And a possible deal breaker, we're advised, is the fishing industry. |
| 1:48.6 | So this week, I want to find out why, what fishing policy actually means, |
| 1:51.3 | who it affects, and what lies ahead. |
| 2:09.9 | Grab your Sal Wester, step inside the briefing room about what the industry looks like today. |
... |
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