The scientific evidence pointing towards global warming and climate change now seems to be incontrovertible. As a result, green issues are now at the very top of the political agenda, with all the main political parties embracing green ambitions and green logos. Green issues and the protection of the environment are affecting all aspects of day-to-day life, not least the marine sector. Pressures to protect the marine environment, together with an increase in competing uses for that same environment over the last 50 years, have led to increasing tensions for the fishing industry. The Government’s much-publicised Marine Bill will only serve to increase pressures on an already heavily-regulated fishing industry.
Traditionally, the sea was the preserve of the seafarer and the fishermen. These two co-existing users were able to peaceably exist side-by-side for many years. The common law position is that the public has always had a right to fish in the tidal reaches of all rivers and estuaries and in the sea around the UK. The fishing industry has been at the heart of many coastal communities, providing employment both at sea and ashore. In some communities, not least along the east coast of the UK, it has also promoted the development of fish and food processing industries. Fishing has developed in many coastal communities as a family business and a way of life. However, the face of the industry has changed during the past 100 years and even more so in the last 50 years. The notion of small ports with traditional local fisheries does still exist but, in reality, fishing is now dominated by modern, large-scale fishing operations. Technological developments since World War II mean fishing vessels can fish further and deeper. One now only has to look at the largest fishing vessels which are in excess of 110 metres in length and are able to catch and process hundreds of tonnes of fish per day to see how the industry has moved on. Whereas, at one time, fishing was restricted to the coastal margins, it is now carried out on high seas on a vast scale and at great depths. In 1950, the tonnage of fish from world capture fisheries amounted to 18 million tonnes. In 1969 that figure had increased to 56 million tonnes and in 2000 it reached a peak of 95 million tonnes. The modern fishing fleet comprises fewer but more powerful fishing vessels.
