Fished out

One of the things that fills me with despair about modern life is the state of our fisheries and the inevitability that, one day, our national dish of fish and chips will be a thing of the past.

You're torn, naturally, between wanting to eat as much fish as possible before it runs out, and wishing that someone had the political will and the moral courage to insist on a two-year moratorium on fishing.

What gets me more than anything is the attitude of the fishing industry itself. They're quickly putting themselves out of business anyway, but the one thing they won't think of is a reduction in quotas, let alone stopping altogether. It's a kind of short termism that just bewilders me. You can't hold a negotiation with these people, they're like aliens.

They need to stop altogether for two years, and anyone breaking the moratorium needs to have a torpedo applied to the side of their vessel. Give the fish time to breed, one season, and then another, undisturbed, and then slowly go back to fishing, using different techniques that don't destroy the habitats.

Put all the current fishing fleet in dry dock, let them claim benefits or retrain for other professions (or retrain using different fishing methods), make them realise that this is the only way they'll ever be able to put out to sea commercially again.

Sure prices are going to go up, but that's only what's going to happen anyway, so let's bite the bullet.