January 9, 2014 — The present day environmental fisheries lobby, a once radical fringe movement, has suddenly sunk their claws firmly into mainstream European politics. They show no signs of moving. Once a well-intentioned operation, it has become a confused and misguided witch-hunt, condemning fishing industry leaders and politicians, armed only with ecopropaganda and anti-science policies.
Only 58 of the 766 total MEPs are members of the Green grouping. So how and why, are we allowing the Green lobby to dictate our fisheries policy?
The Green lobby survive on employing apocalyptic, scare-mongering tactics. They disseminate hysterical slogans arguing that the world’s seabed will be ruined forever if we do not impose a blanket ban on all deep sea fishing. They panic politicians that overwhelming numbers of their constituents have signed a petition to ban discards. We are made to believe that there is no time for debate and we must act now. Such impassioned strategies mobilise naïve do-gooders and prompt decision-makers into knee-jerk reactions, without debating the potentially catastrophic consequences. These issues certainly do need our immediate attention but we must act sensibly and legislate appropriately.
Green must be good
We are persuaded that if it’s green, it must be good. Whether well-intentioned or not, such initial passion for an environmental conscience is ultimately lost among fossil-fuelled convenience and only the fishermen are left to face the consequences.
Such tactics have led to unfair hate campaigns across the EU specifically targeting advocates of the fishing industry. The most recent, the Fish Fight campaign, led by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, propped up by the Green lobby, brought to the masses the horrendous practice of discarding perfectly edible fish overboard. Those who rallied the UK general public against ‘useless politicians in Brussels’ failed to mention those who had campaigned relentlessly for years against this abhorrent practice. Eventually Hugh’s gung-ho blanket ban on discards was picked apart by the scientific community and he soon realised why a ban was not as easy as first thought. Thankfully, Brussels agreed that a blanket ban would not work and has now implemented a sound discard ban targeting specific areas with a phased-in timeframe. Yet, once Hugh’s own campaign had run out of steam, he decided to promote an unresearched yet spirited campaign for areas of sea to be closed from fishing arbitrarily. He was quietly given a dressing down by WWF and has seemingly given up. Whilst he must be applauded for his efforts, albeit media-fuelled, ignoring and even berating stakeholders and politicians will only alienate the very people who have the power to change things.
Read the full opinion piece at World Fishing and Aquaculture