The final betrayal of Britain's fishermen was confirmed in 2003, when British waters became a European Union (EU) asset, under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

Edward Heath in his haste to get Britain into the Common Market fell for a swindle, conceived just days before negotiations for us to join began. It gave the other member states freedom to fish in our waters by making them a 'common resource'. Having exhausted their own fishing grounds, they wanted to get their nets into the rich fishing waters inside the British 200-mile limit. In accepting it, Heath betrayed British fishermen and gave other EU nations a licence to rob, loot and pillage our fish forever.

Since then, the ongoing process of taking control of our fishing waters by stealth has continued unchecked.

DID YOU KNOW THAT UNDER THE COMMON FISHERIES POLICY:

More fish are now being thrown back dead in discards, or landed illegally, than are landed legitimately.

Britain provides three quarters of the stock, two thirds of the waters, but gets only a third of the catch and an eighth by value.

The fish nearly all hatch, grow and spawn in British waters but are a 'Common Resource", the only one. So everyone else can catch our fish and land it in their own ports, destroying the British fishing industry.

Every EU nation has "equal access" to this "Common Resource" and new entrants with big fishing fleets, but few fish, seek catches in our waters. Spain was the first and our fishing fleet has been cut to make room for them.

Countries, whose fishing fleets are too large for their quotas can register their vessels as British, get European money and catch our quotas. A fifth of the British registered fleet is now foreign owned and these quota hoppers catch more than two fifths of our hake and plaice.

Policing at sea falls mainly to Britain but we can't discriminate against the vessels most likely to offend and our efforts are not supported by control at most European ports where small fish "over quota" and illegally undersized fish are all landed with impunity.

Nations outside the EU have built powerful fishing industries within their 200-mile limits. Britain isn't allowed to do this because of the CFP rules.

Not Maggie but Ted,and the EEC killed the UK fishing industry.

Giok