THE ALLOCATION OF FISHING RIGHTS IN UK FISHERIES A. Hatcher* and A. Read** * Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources (CEMARE) University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO4 8JF, United Kingdom <
[email protected]> ** Danbrit Ship Management Ltd 8 Abbey Walk, Grimsby DN31 1NB, United Kingdom 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The UK fishing industry The United Kingdom has a long history of fishing, reflecting its position as an island with a relatively long coastline and its proximity to the productive fishing grounds of the European continental shelf, notably the North Sea, the English Channel and the West of Scotland. The UK fisheries are heterogeneous and this is reflected in a complex fleet structure. The shape of the modern UK fleet is the product of technological and market changes together with political developments, in particular the loss of access to traditional distant water grounds (particularly Iceland and Greenland) in the 1970s and the development of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) by the European Community (EC - which the UK joined in 1972). Under the CFP (see below) there have been national quotas for most stocks since the early 1980s, coupled with a succession of fleet reduction programmes (the so-called MAGPs or multi-annual guidance programmes). There are currently just over 8000 fishing vessels in the UK, although nearly three-quarters of these are inshore boats under 10m in length. Table 1 shows the trend in vessel numbers for the period 1994 to 1999 by vessel type (the “sectors” shown correspond to the classification used by the EC for measuring fleet size).