to think we should deploy the entire fleet to deter those pesky French fishing boats?

[chomalungma]

Just 4 gunboats?

Don't they know how big the channel is and the whole fishing area?
Not enough.
Our territorial waters need defending.
Deploy the fleet.

The Royal Navy and a few trawlers have women aboard too. In fact the Current Commander Fish is a woman, I believe

Did you just assume their gender?
We haven't officially left the EU yet. Until that time, please be mindful, at all times, inside your own home or out, of "gender sensitive communications".
Yours
Brussels

eige.europa.eu/publications/gender-sensitive-communication/practical-tools/pronouns

@RMRM

We're going to war over fish we don't eat and we need to sell to the EU?

Amazing.

God's sake. What is wrong with people?

No, that's not quite it.

The French are demanding fishing rights in British waters, and they are using this issue as leverage to prevent a trade deal unless their demands are met.

If that's not blackmail I don't know what is.

There are also posters on here who think we catch the fish for fish fingers in UK waters. Hey ho.

Hey ho, or should that be Ahoy, we're leaving the plundering of our waters behind

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/04/trawler-14-times-size-uk-fishing-boats-plundering-fish-british/

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'Erm, this is nothing new. The RN have been patrolling our waters and intervening where necessary for a very long time. It's a big part of what they do (quietly and professionally)'

Exactly. Stop watching Sky News op, take some deep breaths, sniff some essential oils and go to your happy place for a breather.

I don't think RN boats have been cutting nets, pulling up long lines or boarding boats and arresting our NATO allies fishermen for many a year. Anyone who thinks that will happen with no retaliation from the countries affected are living in cloud cuckoo land, if this actually happened, then the consequences would be very serious for the UK.

We are literally taking the food from these peoples mouths.

I'm with Tobias Ellwood (Tory MP chair commons defence committee) who said we should be building alliances with our NATO allies not threatening their citizens.

If that's not blackmail I don't know what is

Fishing is worth between 0.05 - 0.12% of UK GDP, depending on how you measure it.

The fishing industry in the UK employs fewer people than Debenhams does, sorry did.

If that's not a ridiculous hill for the country to die on, I don't know what is.

Flaxmeadow says:

'Deep sea fishing, especially in the north sea, is one of the most dangerous occupations on earth'

this being the case, maybe politicians shouldn't use it for inane gesture politics?

and also that fishing is important to the UK because it means that

'people on low incomes can feed their families low cost protein, usually by fish fingers.'

Fish fingers are made from cod. It has been widely reported recently that the UK fleet tends to catch a lot of mackerel and herring, rather than cod, which they then sell abroad as Brits apparently don't like these oily fish. The cod used for fish fingers is imported from outside UK waters.

As for protecting this resource: less coordination in fishing makes overfishing more likely, which will help no one.

And who reduced the size of the navy? The Tories of course.

We must be the laughing stock of the World right now. This is how Trump treats Iran. And we decide to copy him... FFS.

@Flaxmeadow

The way remainers here are sneering at UK fishermen, and our fishing industry, reminds me of the way Thatcher used to sneer at coal miners, another dangerous, often low paid, occupation and industry that provided affordable and vital goods to everyday people

What the hell is wrong with you?

I understand the fishing industry. That's why. I have yet to meet a Brexiteer who does.

They need to educate the fish. Not sure fish can read maps. There is a risk they might cross the median line illegally.

We need to borrow these guys to haul insults at the French as they try to enter our waters.

The government really don't give a shit about our fisherman , or fishing industry and neither do a lot of people by the sounds of it . A local scalloper went down 2 weeks ago and 2 men lost their lives , it's an industry that small towns like ours depend on and ppl are willing to take the risk of such a dangerous job to feed their families. I work in export and If we leave with no deal it will be near on impossible to export it - we haven't got the time or manpower to meet the EU demands .

@bodhi1982 it's a political football. It is all it has ever been.

All we'd need to cap it off is some sunken island bobbing up between us a'la Terry Pratchett

Fishing is an incredibly dangerous job. Fishermen work long hours when at sea.

Doesn't mean I applaud all the rhetoric about it. Nor does it mean I support fishermen.

As for the focus on fishing, it's just an excuse to whip up the right wing media and Brexiteers to detract from the shit show of no deal. Do you honestly think the tories care about fishermen?

They will hang the fishermen out to dry too. Although to be honest, fisherman plus climate change are doing a pretty good job of trashing the industry. Boris is just a bonus.

@Doowninthedumps

All we'd need to cap it off is some sunken island bobbing up between us a'la Terry Pratchett

Still miss Sir Pratchett. I used to get his latest book, every Christmas.

@Doowninthedumps

All we'd need to cap it off is some sunken island bobbing up between us a'la Terry Pratchett

He would definitely have written Brexit into a book.

Quirm and Ankh-Morpork fighting over herring.

If anything good is to come out of Johnson's gun-boat bullshit, I suppose that it might have finally woken up the Conservative Party to the fact that the bloke is both dangerous and unhinged and that his great vision of the UK prospering and going boldly into a new future is just the same empty bullshit that he's been spouting for the last 25 years or more.

Some fellow Tories are beginning to see the light:

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, called the threat of deploying gunboats “irresponsible”, when attention should be focused on striking a deal, while the former EU commissioner Chris Patten accused the prime minister of behaving like an “English nationalist”.

Ellwood, a former defence minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think these headlines are absolutely irresponsible."

Patten, also speaking to Today, accused Johnson of being on a “runaway train of English exceptionalism”. The former Conservative party chairman added: “I hope that I’m wrong to feel so depressed about the outlook but I don’t think that Mr Johnson is a Conservative, I think he is an English nationalist.

“And all the things that Conservatives used to believe in – like standing up for the union, like not attacking our institutions, like the judges, like believing in international cooperation – seem to have gone out of the window.”

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone:

Speaking on LBC in 2019, the Tory MP Keith Simpson gave a startling view of Mr Johnson saying "at the end of the day, he will always let you down."

@Moondust001

I think you are being far too lax OP. What the hell do we have a nuclear deterrent for if we aren't prepared to use it?

Damned good point there Moondust. We are British after all!

I think you are being far too lax OP. What the hell do we have a nuclear deterrent for if we aren't prepared to use it?

Oh just brilliant!
The French have the bomb too you know.

(By the way I realise you were being sarcastic)

'Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, called the threat of deploying gunboats “irresponsible”, when attention should be focused on striking a deal. Ellwood, a former defence minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think these headlines are absolutely irresponsible."

As a former defence minister he should know RN patrols are nothing new. He's made a bit of a tit of himself reacting to the msm hysteria. The last sentence is correct the headlines are irresponsible and he's lapped it all up.

RN patrols yes, cutting fishing gear, boarding and arresting our allies citizens going about their livelihoods?

Fishermen in confrontation is not new.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-45337091

Scallop fishing wars anybody? Was only 2 years ago. I can't remember if enforcement was involved.

This one was in French waters btw. Because yes, UK fishermen have been fishing in non UK waters. I assume this will stop in January.

The French fishermen have no problem ramming other people's boat when they feel aggrieved so I no problem in us deloying as much of the Navy as possible.

@Corcory

The French fishermen have no problem ramming other people's boat when they feel aggrieved so I no problem in us deloying as much of the Navy as possible.

So like I said, they are going to need way more than 4 boats (of which only 2 will be out) to cover the UK waters.

So deploy the fleet