Greenpeace ‘Small scale fishermen in England are struggling to retain their livelihood, while multi-million pound companies buy up the majority of fishing right, according to a new investigation by Greenpeace.

The investigation revealed that just three companies own nearly two-thirds of England’s fishing quota while some fishermen hoard quota on vessels which never cast a net.

Nearly half of the UK quota is held by companies based outside the UK, despite reforms to the EU’s fisheries policy, which encourage national governments to allocate fishing quota on social and environmental grounds. The ownership of quota by large-scale fishing firms also poses greater risk to the environment and fish stocks if more destructive fishing practices are deployed. The right to fish different species is regulated by the government, which doles out quotas to groups of companies and fishermen known as producer organisations. While these organisations are intended to work like co-operatives, the investigation has revealed that instead a handful of people control huge swathes of the UK coast. 

Who owns the England and Wales’ quota?

We tracked back the ultimate owners for nearly 900 fishing vessels with quota, using national and international company registries and databases to get the first true picture of who owns the British fishing industry. But the data only tells part of the picture. Click here to read more.

The Telegraph have a picture of the dinghy!