Snarky Post About European Fishing

EU Fishermen Protest Quotas On Fish Angry fishermen handed out free fish in Belgium, blocked ports across France and kept British ferries from crossing the English Channel on Wednesday to protest proposed EU cuts on commercial catches of cod, hake and other dwindling varieties. ... "Europe's fishing industry is going to collapse," Pierre-George Dachicourt, president of France's national fishermen's committee, known as CPMEM, said on Europe-1 radio. Speaking from Antwerp, he said the proposed quotas would "ruin the rich tradition of fishing all along Europe's coasts." ... Scientists have pressed the European Union's head office to enforce bans on over-fishing, warning that some species could face extinction. The European Commission backed away from a total catch ban on cod fishing, for example. Instead, it proposed beefing up checks on fishermen to ensure that quotas are not exceeded.

I imagine this is winning a lot of friends among the ferry passengers, who as we all know are the people who set EU fisheries policy. I also wonder what they think will happen to the fishing industry when the ocean runs out of fish. Assuming the science behind them is reliable, the quotas are actually, in the long run, saving Europe's "rich tradition of fishing" and many of the jobs it provides.