EU fish imports to meet domestic processing and consumer demand come to just £227m, according to Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) figures. But fish quotas currently shared out between EU nations under the “relative stability” measure could be tweaked to Britain’s benefit, he argued. The Leave camp contends that quotas for North Sea fish are set in the Atlantic fisheries commission, in which the EU has just one representative, despite representing 28 nations. “In the Channel, North Sea and far south-western waters we get a very unfair share of quota allocations,” Eustice said. However, the UK would still need to continue to recognise the historic right of some countries to fish in UK waters, including within some coastal zones.

Source: The Guardian June 01, 2016 10:52 UTC