
LeaveHQ represents a number of leading Leaver organisations including the Bruges Group and Campaign for an Independent Britain under the umbrella of the Leave Alliance. Joining our efforts is Restore
Britain's Fish.
Restore
Britain's Fish is a continuation of the nineties Save Britain's Fish
campaign that was then the leading eurosceptic pressure group for
bringing powers back from the European Union to the Member State– namely
“National control of Fisheries” that became Conservative Party policy
under leaders, Hague, Duncan-Smith and Howard, but removed by Cameron.
Save
Britain's Fish ceased campaigning at the end of 2002, because Spain by
then was fully integrated into the Common Fisheries Policy, and the
decimation of the British fleet to accommodate the increased tonnage
into Community waters was well under way. 13years on, it is not a
question of “saving” but “restoring” Britain's Fish. Because of the
pending EU referendum the campaign has restarted, to be part of “The
Leave Alliance” and supporting the blogs associated with that alliance.
By the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
the 200 mile/median line zone around the British coast is bestowed on
the Nation State, but the British Westminster Parliament, by their
decision alone, have handed, and continue to hand, the living marine
resource within that zone, to the European Union to be shared equally
and without discrimination with every other member State of the European
Union to become Community waters..
The past and present
campaign was/is run by John Ashworth in conjunction with persons from
the fishing industry and ancillary industries from all coastal areas
from Cornwall to Shetland and Northern Ireland. John is not a fisherman
but a designer and manufacture of fishing gear who spent 20 years on
board trawlers around the world, either learning their requirements or
teaching how to use his product. For several years he wrote a
conservation column in the Fishing press, and lectured in other
countries on the subject. Along with his SBF colleagues studied
constitutional law and the workings of the EU.
For those wishing
to learn the subject of the European Union, originally the European
Economic Community, there is no finer way than through the fishing
story. From the Treaty of Rome, to how the first fisheries regulation
was created from the Treaty, and the regulation becoming the acquis
communautaire (the EU legislation a Nation joining the EU must accept
and implement in full without exception) Because it is impossible for a
new nation to do this overnight, what are called transitional
derogations are issued, a subject our Parliament in 1972 were deceived
over, unlike the Norwegians who their Ministers told the truth.
Norway
never joined the EU, her people deciding to remain in EFTA – the
European Free Trade Association through which has access to the EEA –
European Economic Area, better known as the Single Market.
For
the first few years after Britain joined the then EEC, nothing much
happened until Spain applied for membership, which commenced in 1986.
Spain had a massive fishing fleet mainly fishing in waters under third
country agreements which were starting to terminate. That fleet had to
be accommodated in Community waters, someone had to go, it was the
British and Irish.
However because of the difficulties of integrating
Spain into a Common Policy, she was made to wait 16 years, until 2002
before obtaining her full Accession Treaty rights, rights agreed by the
British Parliament, during which time British Ministers never stated the
truth of the future, and totally denied the outcome when challenged,
instead peddled the answer for British fishermen was “reform”.
This
was not Spain's or the EU's fault, because these events were all within
the Treaties agreed by Britain, the fault lies with our own Parliament.
Lord Burleigh in 1698 said ”England can never be thoroughly ruined but
by a Parliament”.
Worse was to come. British Ministers knew the
British fishing fleet had to be decimated in order to bring about the
Treaty obligations, but how, without the British public becoming aware
of what was happening.
Two events happened that created the
beneficial crises that let our Ministers off the hook. Vast quantities
of juvenile fish were being dumped dead back into the sea, and the
sand-eel stock, a major element in the food cycle, were being heavily
overfished.
The British Fishing Industry highlighted these facts, our
Research Institutions designed fishing gear that would prevent the
slaughter, but to no avail, nothing was done about these two serious
problems - fish stocks declined, giving our Ministers the ability of
getting rid of our vessels under the slogan “to many vessels chasing to
few fish.”
From the fishing story there are two lessons, the
word reform is a fallacy, and the integrationist drive to achieve a
Common Policy, nothing stands in the way, the environment, the people,
communities, the Nation State – nothing. That is why our campaign wants
control back with the British people.
LeaveHQ will be publishing regular updates from Restore Britain's Fish.