allocated catching rights around Europe in line with how countries were fishing in the mid-1970s. Unfortunately, many of Britain’s biggest fishing boats happened to be far away in those years, trawling the waters around Iceland, which had not yet banned foreign boats from its vicinity. Britain ended up with only a tenth of the quota for cod caught in the English Channel, for example.fishing boats will give up a quarter of their quota rights in British waters.
Over the long term, though, what really matters is not how the fish around Britain are divided but how many fish there are. Decades of overfishing have denuded the ocean and occasionally caused fish populations to collapse. In 2019 landings in Britain of demersal fish such as cod and haddock were only a fifth of the 1970 level. For years theabetted this destruction.
In theory, Britain could have become a freewheeling coastal state that heeded scientific advice and co-operated with its neighbours. But in practice it would probably have been a disaster. Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands hold sway over their waters, and periodically get into rows with theover fish quotas.
As the ocean warms, fish are migrating, making it ever more likely that negotiations will break down. And if Britain had gained full control of its coastal waters it would have been more likely to end up feuding with thethan Iceland, Norway or the Faroe Islands do, because of the dozens of commercially important fish species that swim the English Channel and the North Sea.
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