THE situation we have got into with the FV Margiris is clearly absurd and manifestly destructive of our own fishing interests and the environment.
You correctly point out that each EU country has a fishing quota, which is distributed by each state’s government; you might have added that the UK government, unlike those of most other EU countries, allows the resale of the quota permits, which is how a Lithuanian-registered, Dutch-owned vessel comes to own a large share of the British allocation.
The fault lies not with the EU, but with the British government (and, perhaps, with those fishing interests that sold on the permits).
Mr Drax (Oct 11) appears still to be ignorant of this, which stretches credibility since he was corrected some time ago when he last wrote on this subject.
He might have accepted some responsibility on behalf of the government he supports.
He should also look up our commitments under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in which fishing rights are a bit more complex that he seems to think.
Barry Tempest
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