An analysis conducted by researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands, rated the world’s top university for agricultural research has found that taking back control of UK waters will mean cheaper British caught fish - unfortunately most of the fish we actually eat is imported.
The Dutch researchers say 10-15% more fish would be landed by UK vessels in the hard Brexit scenario from 2020-2025, worth £250m over the period. But this increased supply would push prices down, and overall the UK fleet would earn less money (HERE).
To quote from The Guardian's report:
"Two-thirds of the fish UK consumers eat are imported from overseas, and the costs of those would rise, due to the trade barriers resulting from a hard Brexit. Moreover, the fall in the price of UK fish would lead to a drop in earnings for UK fishermen. Overall, the analysis shows closing the UK’s sea borders would be a “lose-lose situation” for both UK and EU consumers and fishing industries".
Needless to say, this was disputed by fishermen:
But fisherman Aaron Brown, founder of the Fishing for Leave group, disagrees that the UK would lose out from a hard Brexit: “We regain approximately 600,000 tonnes net from a clean Brexit. Prices may drop short term but eventually they will recover as the UK processing industry also rebuilds.”
“If the UK regains what should be rightfully her resources, implements new UK policy to address both EU and domestic failings, then the future can be very bright for British fishing,” he said.
Note the get-out clause with the very careful use of the word IF at the beginning.
This to me is like saying the western world's obesity crisis would be solved IF we could implement policies to reduce gravity.
