Fury erupts as monstrous EU vessels rake in thousands of UK fish despite Brexit

Campaigners have at 11 EU ships - each longer than Wembley's pitch - hoovering the UK's despite Brexit. The factory vessels are licensed to rake in thousands of British fish but never land their catches at UK ports, campaign group Facts4EU said.

The group raised particular concern about the Dutch-owned Annelies Ilena, which carries the Polish flag. At 472 feet long (145m), it has a gross tonnage of over 14,000 tonnes.

Its length is the equivalent of 13 London red buses laid end-to-end or 130 feet longer than the Wembley 344ft football pitch. The gigantic vessel was on Thursday fishing in UK waters, just 20 nautical miles off the coast of Scotland and is heading south down the

The second-longest factory fishing ship, the Dutch-flagged Willem van der Zwan, is just six feet shorter than the Annelies Ilena at 468 feet long. It was fishing off the Hebrides on Thursday.

The third-longest EU super-trawler licensed by British authorities this year is German-flagged but Dutch-owned Maartje Theadora and measures 462 feet end-to-end.

After landing its catch in the Dutch port of IJmuiden, it is now heading back to the UK waters in the North Sea.

In 2012 it was prosecuted by the French and fined for breaking EU law.

Leigh Evans, chairman at Facts4EU, said: "This industrial type of fishing inevitably produces revenues and profits on a commensurate scale. Our UK Fisheries Campaign (UKFC) is calling for this to be an integral part of the negotiations for the renewal of any agreement with the EU after the current arrangement runs out in June next year.

"The UKFC further argues the government should allocate a fund for loans for UK fishermen to buy boats at preferential rates and with less onerous security required, as well as a fund for the rapid expansion in the number of fisheries officers inspecting catches at UK ports, particularly those of EU-flagged vessels and UK-flagged but EU-owned vessels. If the UK started charging EU fleet boats for licences properly, this could be self-financing."

There have been concerns that Sir Keir Starmer could hand EU more licences in UK waters in a bid to strengthen ties with the Bloc. Emmanuel Macron this week reportedly dropped demands for a post-Brexit security deal to be linked to fishing rights.

But under the Brexit deal, the EU's fishing fleet retained access to British waters for a five-and-half-year transition period, ending mid-2026. After that, access to respective waters will be decided in annual negotiations which begin soon.

Alistair Carmichael MP, chair of the Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee warned "now is the time" to ramp up protection for the UK's water in negotiations with the EU.

He accused foreign boats of "acting like gangsters" and "taking reckless actions against local fishing vessels".

The senior MP added: "When it happens at sea then it should be no different. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.

"That is why the upcoming review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU is so important. It is probably the best opportunity we shall have in this decade to improve fisheries management, by making sustainability and safe behaviour a condition of access to British waters. For anyone who really cares about our marine environment that should not be a hard deal to make."

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "This government will always back our great British fishing industry.

"We will seek to tear down unnecessary trade barriers and push for sustainable fishing opportunities for British vessels.

"We work closely the other coastal states, including the EU, to ensure the most productive and sustainable management of stocks possible."

I have often said that our fishers have as much interest as anyone else in ensuring the sustainability of our marine ecosystems. At the end of the day if there are no fish, there is no fishing. For an industry that still often operates passing a business down the generations that really matters.

It is also true, however, that the further a fisherman is from his home port, the less likely it is that he will care about conservation. Nowhere is this more apparent in the waters around the United Kingdom than in the industrial-scale gill net fishing of the sort done by foreign boats. Their practices are dangerous to our fishermen and destructive of our marine environment - now is the time to ramp up protection for our waters and stand up for sustainable, local fisheries management in negotiations with the EU.

Spanish gill-netting boats such as the Pesorsa Dos and the Antonio Maria have behaved like gangsters, hiving off great swathes of the sea and taking reckless actions against local fishing vessels. That lives have not been lost already has had more to do with luck than anything else.

Then there is the environmental damage from discarded gill nets - a massive cause of plastic pollution in our seas and particularly harmful to other marine life, as well as being an enormous nuisance for local fishers who feel a responsibility to clear up these "ghost nets".

On every level this sort of fishing activity by non-local boats is unsustainable. If this sort of behaviour was happening on dry land there would be massive public outcry. When it happens at sea then it should be no different. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.

That is why the upcoming review of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU is so important. It is probably the best opportunity we shall have in this decade to improve fisheries management, by making sustainability and safe behaviour a condition of access to British waters. For anyone who really cares about our marine environment that should not be a hard deal to make.

The fishing industry is rooted in the coastal communities that define our country. If we all share the interest our fishermen have in a sustainable marine environment - and we should - then we need to stand with them to secure a fair deal on the future of access to our waters.