Fishy tale

Yet it is only recently, with the publicity that followed the involvement of celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, that the scandal of fish discards – in which dead fish are thrown back into the sea to help to meet fishing quotas – has become known to a wider public. As a result, even the notoriously mulish European Commission has been stung into action, proposing not merely a ban on the discarding of unwanted catches but also a move towards more localised decision-making instead of the Brussels micro-management which has presided over a policy that has been ruinous both to fishermen and to the fish stocks it purports to preserve.

It almost sounds too good to be true, but if the Commission has finally accepted some of the absurdities of the CFP, perhaps there is at last some hope of sensible reform. What a pity that it has all come far too late for the countless UK fishermen who have been forced out of business through their adherence to unrealistic quotas and counter-productive regulations.