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Original poster

To have zero sympathy for the fishing industry?

600 replies

AgeLikeWine · 18/01/2021 19:19

The U.K. fishing industry voted overwhelmingly for Brexit ; 92% voted Leave according to a poll from June 2016 (source : The Guardian).

Now they are bleating about the massive logistical and administrative problems and delays that they are encountering in trying to export their catch into EU markets. Today, fish transportation companies have been driving their lorries around central London to protest about the situation.

But this is what they voted for : to ‘take back control of our waters’. They voted Leave in the full knowledge that most of the U.K. catch was exported to Europe, and that that would obviously be more difficult after Brexit, so they should suck it up & stop whinging.

OP posts:
CoRhona · 18/01/2021 19:20

Wow...this'll go well.

gets popcorn

HighHeelBoots · 18/01/2021 19:22

Let them suffer, they didn't give a toss about the rest of us
I see they've started talking about a Singapore style economy again. Low tax and fewer public services so, apart from the rich, we are all screwed

HerMammy · 18/01/2021 19:23

If ever the saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’ was true this is it.
I’m in Scotland and most ppl I know we’re mystified by the fishing industries stance on Brexit.

Cornetttttto · 18/01/2021 19:24

They were lied to. Boris refused to even discuss them and their plight last week. Regardless of your beliefs about Brexit, they were lied to. And that is horrible.

Chickenkatsu · 18/01/2021 19:24

They've been fed lies by the Tory press for decades so it's not all their fault, it didn't take a genius to see what was going to happen though.

OhWhyNot · 18/01/2021 19:24

What about the 8% who didn’t vote to leave

Confused
BrumBoo · 18/01/2021 19:25

I disagree with Brexit. Nothing in the last few years has swayed that opinion. However, its not the people's fault, it's the governments. They sold the dream of a land of milk and honey and people, real people who were struggling enough before this last nightmare year wanted to believe it.

I'm not going to gloat when it goes to shit, because it affects everyone no matter how they voted. People are going to lose entire livelihoods between Brexit and Covid, and it's mostly down to the greed of politicians, not the average Joe. I dont blame them bringing some anger straight to Westminster's door. They won't be the last.

Justa47 · 18/01/2021 19:26

@AgeLikeWine

No sympathy I agree. But it’s mainly the Scottish fishermen and Scotland voted remain. As for the English ones no sympathy. Sorry.

BoKatan · 18/01/2021 19:26

YANBU. I'd like to offer them the world's smallest violin.

And I don't buy that they were lied to. The information was readily available for anyone to access. If they choose to read everything published in their paper of choice then that is on them.

HollowTalk · 18/01/2021 19:26

They wouldn't have been able to guess that if Brexit went through it would have a) happened in the middle of a pandemic and b) handled by a government led by Boris Johnson.

lljkk · 18/01/2021 19:28

I feel sorry for the 8%. The rest "knew what they were voting for"

OhWhyNot · 18/01/2021 19:28

Totally agree BrumBoo

The writing was on the wall but MP’s were unaware wtf were they doing supporting a referendum on such a complex issue

Many of us believed we would have a second referendum we too choose to believe what we wanted to but looking back now there was never a chance especially once Article 50 was triggered but we were fooled by this too because we antes to believe

Ohalrightthen · 18/01/2021 19:28

@Cornetttttto

They were lied to. Boris refused to even discuss them and their plight last week. Regardless of your beliefs about Brexit, they were lied to. And that is horrible.
Who on earth trusts politicians!? Everyone with even the slightest bit of common sense could have predicted that we'd end up with a hugely unfavourable trade deal with Europe if we left. They were never going to let us shit on their birthday party and then leave with a slice of cake and a goody bag.
RedFrogsRule · 18/01/2021 19:29

Agree! I live in a fishing town and there were repeated posts warning them this would happen. It’s absolutely no surprise at all. They all ignored the warnings and mocked the ‘remoaners’. This was inevitable. I feel very sorry for anyone who voted remain and is affected, having to watch this and know their peers voted for it

MythicalBiologicalFennel · 18/01/2021 19:31

They've been fed lies by the Tory press for decades

So has everyone else. Voting is not only a right but also a responsibility. Sympathy is in short supply here.

If fish cannot be sold abroad why isn't it sold in the UK? I'm sure Boris or Gove or Rees-Mogg could come up with some simple, 3-word shit motto to make it our patriotic duty to save the fishing industry by eating lobster and crabs three times a day.

MissyB1 · 18/01/2021 19:32

They fell for Boris’s bullshit - more fool them!

Brighterthansunflowers · 18/01/2021 19:32

I feel sorry for the 8% but otherwise not at all.

They voted for it, they chose to believe the lies of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farrage over actual facts from experts. They deserve what they get.

The rest of us have to live with the consequences of this shitshow when we didn’t even vote for it, I have no sympathy for those who actually wanted this.

LApprentiSorcier · 18/01/2021 19:33

I'm a remainer but I do have sympathy for the fishing industry. They were sold a pup by Farage et al because the Leave campaign kept bleating that the UK was so important no one would dare to put trade barriers in place, and it was all just project fear, take no notice.

The fishing industry had more of a vested interest in Brexit than many leavers because they had been impacted by fishing quotas, having to throw away fish and so on. The Brexiteers capitalised on that by glossing over the other side of the coin - all the hassle they are experiencing now.

So, yes. I would rejoin tomorrow if we could, but the fishing industry has my sympathy. They're casualties of the lie that was the Leave campaign.

MojoMoon · 18/01/2021 19:36

They chose to believe the lies. It isn't hard to look stuff up on the internet and see that things aren't as simplistic as populist Brexiteers make out and then have the intellectual capacity to think "hmm maybe there is a bit of a risk here"

They wanted to believe they could have their cake and eat it and so they did.

No sympathy with them really. Apart from the sensible 8pc who were probably Scottish.

Narniacalling · 18/01/2021 19:37

People saying they wouldn’t know what would happen, they’re industry turns over nothing, literally fuck all.
They were easy poster boys for the leave campaign, taking back your sovereign waters is such as easy sell and it’s nice and obvious especially to an island nation.

Were they so stupid as to think that an industry that turns over roughly the same as harrods does would be at the forefront in terms of a deal.

Everyone had to make an informed choice when voting leave, and they just miraculously thought it would all be positive for them.

And FYI the reason they have fewer quotas is because they bloody sold them all off to Europeans in the 90s

CallistoSol · 18/01/2021 19:38

I'm a very normal person, not up to speed on any industry bar my own but I knew very early on that Brexit would be a clusterfuck for fishing and farming, and yet people in both industries voted overwhelmingly to leave. Fuck off about they were lied too. We were all lied too but not all of us fell for it. Zero sympathy for anyone who voted leave and who is whingeing about being negatively affected by the sunlit uplands.

Original poster
AgeLikeWine · 18/01/2021 19:40

@Cornetttttto

They were lied to. Boris refused to even discuss them and their plight last week. Regardless of your beliefs about Brexit, they were lied to. And that is horrible.
I was also lied to by the Brexiteers, so I did my own research into the likely issues for my own industry in the event of the U.K. leaving the EU, and as a result I voted Remain.

If others didn’t do their own due diligence before voting, and didn’t understand the potential implications to their own livelihoods of voting Leave, then whose fault is that?

OP posts:
TheGreatWave · 18/01/2021 19:41

@LApprentiSorcier

I'm a remainer but I do have sympathy for the fishing industry. They were sold a pup by Farage et al because the Leave campaign kept bleating that the UK was so important no one would dare to put trade barriers in place, and it was all just project fear, take no notice.

The fishing industry had more of a vested interest in Brexit than many leavers because they had been impacted by fishing quotas, having to throw away fish and so on. The Brexiteers capitalised on that by glossing over the other side of the coin - all the hassle they are experiencing now.

So, yes. I would rejoin tomorrow if we could, but the fishing industry has my sympathy. They're casualties of the lie that was the Leave campaign.

Yes this.

I am just head in hands about it all now. They were made fools of by the likes of farage and co.

frumpety · 18/01/2021 19:41

I feel for them because like agriculture, its a bloody hard and dangerous job, wanting things to be better isn't something I hold against them. Believing the lies peddled by politicians, including one who only attended one out of forty two of EU fisheries committee meetings, well it feels like those fraud programmes where you can't quite believe people fell for it.

Changi · 18/01/2021 19:42

No sympathy I agree. But it’s mainly the Scottish fishermen and Scotland voted remain.

Two out of every five people who voted for Brexit. It wasn't a unanimous vote to remain.

There was a programme on the TV a year or so ago where a Scottish trawler captain said that Scottish fishermen voted overwhelmingly for Brexit.