Comments on: Fish fish fish fish fish

By: Grace

Grace — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 14:56:00 +0000

So what! Its not our problem that their government and culture is crap. We live in an international employment market. Wasn't that one of the main reasons for the EU in the first place? The reason spain as high unemployment is because 1) They don't takd jobs abroad as much
2) They live where there family are, not where there is work to suit their skills.
3) They have a fiesta every two fucking weeks
4) Tey work some of the shortest hours in Europe, so their businesses can't compete, and foreigners don't want to employ them.

That's not our problem, and its that kind of socialist mentality that seems to go hand in hand with eurocentrism, that is the reason I support UKIP.

By: john b

john b — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:37:00 +0000

That's a reasonable point. On the other hand, Spain is poorer than the UK and has a higher rate of unemployment, so it could be argued that greater hardship would result from throwing the Spanish fishermen out of work compared to British fishermen...

NB while EU data is often used misleadingly by politicians, journalists, bureaucrats and busybodies of all hues, the actual stats are generally pretty reliable. The statisticians' expenses claims less so, admittedly.

By: ed

ed — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:15:00 +0000

I’m not sure I would be all that trusting of those figures John. However, that would still leave Spain, a country with a significantly smaller population, with a much larger fishing fleet. Why shouldn’t theirs decline more steeply to level out the imbalance?

By: john b

john b — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 05:14:00 +0000

Well, the Spanish fleet has been *diminishing* in total size and tonnage at about the same rate as the British fleet.

But apart from that, I've got nothing.

By: ed

ed — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 17:35:00 +0000

Ummm, well, I would have a lot more time for such dismissals of europhobes, some of whom might happen to care that livelihoods aren't pointlessly extinguished, if you mentioned what has been an ever expanding Spanish fishing fleet and were able to explain how they thrive and fish not so far away (I know, I've spent time in NW Spain, and SW England) while ours are sailing in ever decreasing numbers.

But maybe you've got that taped, too. I await the John B. slam dunk on that one with interest.

By: Chris Lightfoot

Chris Lightfoot — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 14:05:00 +0000

… and if you hear fishermen saying that fish can’t be running out, because they’re still easy to catch, you should remember that some fish will swim in tighter shoals when they become rarer, so that they are easier to find with SONAR.

Expect a further sharp drop in fish numbers.