GOOD FOR HUGH!

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's series about the price of fish was excellent - at least the only programme I managed to watch was. He told it as he saw it, from the point of view of someone who knows his food, and added some pretty clever stuff to his presentation. The idea about carrying out the discarding of species of fish (which the lunatic regulation imposed by the EU has declared to be necessary), close to the windward coast near Hastings, and giving it away for nowt to anyone who wanted some, was superb in its audacity, concept and execution.

His trip aboard the demersal trawler "Seagull" also showed very clearly the injustice and idiocy of just what British skippers are are required to do to conform to the rules imposed by Brussels. I hope that many people saw the tragic dumping of more than 20 boxes of prime cod for every haul the boat took on board, just because some ill-informed body of scientists have declared that these fish are a figment of fishermens' imaginations.

The ball is now firmly in the court of the EU. Any betting on what the response of this august body will be? Will they take the advice of ill-informed "scientists" and one-track minded "conservationists" who care not a whit about the survival of a fishing industry and the communities who depend on them? Will they believe the evidence of their own eyes, as presented by Hugh F W, and grant fishermen the leeway they need to end the silly discard system? This will mean that fishermen will need to spend less time at sea to make a trip profitable, this in turn relieveing pressure on stocks. Or will they come up with more insanity, like another vessel decommissioning scheme, thereby needlessly further threatening the viability of another traditional industry? Judging by the past record of the EU, I'm not holding my breath.

However, if the EU comes up with more negativity towards our fishermen, I hope that the three elements of the industry (catchers, processors and enforcers) get together to dump the EU regulations over the side, and start operating their own system. Time for a sensible and effective approach to the fish stocks conservation issue.

And thank you, Hugh, for bringing the issue to the notice of a wider public, who, for donkey's years, have been fed a potent diet of the misleading propaganda from the conservation pressure groups. I bet the good burghers of Hastings (and/or their cats!) enjoyed their fish too!