21/07/11
Fish Robbers and Crass Journalism

Reproduced below is a letter sent by the Federation to the editor of the Times complaining about the distortions of their Oceans Correspondent in portrayal of the fishing industry as pantomime villains.

The Editor
The Times
1Virginia St
London
Dear Sir

Fishing Distortions
It is a necessary part of the journalist’s job to simplify complex issues. The best do this without distorting the essentials of the story. Frank Pope’s demonization of the fishing industry and fisheries ministers (The Great Fish Robbers have got away with it again, Times 14th July) crosses the line from simplification to distortion.

You would never guess from his description of the European Commission’s launch of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy that fishing organisations support long term management plans as an alternative to the annual circus of setting quotas; or that they work closely with fisheries scientists on the development of these plans; or indeed and that they are amongst the strongest advocates of radical reform of the CFP.

It’s much easier but essentially lazy and untrue to set up as he does, a simplistic good and evil dichotomy that portrays fisheries ministers as the witless dupes of the powerful and fishing lobby, opposing reform by a Commissioner “on the side of the angels”.

It is the attempt to manage multiple diverse and complex fisheries spread across 40 degrees of latitude, through a centralised command and control system based in Brussels that explains why European fisheries policies have repeatedly failed. Your correspondent does no one any favours by promoting the view that political will and a big stick is all that is required.

Yours
NFFO

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