Who owns the fish in the sea?

The UK High Court is being asked to make a judgement over the question of who owns the fish in the sea. Its been a long running battle. Briefly, the UK Government want to reallocate unused quota from 'big businesses' to small scale fishers. You can see why this is a contentious issue. 'Big business' wants to keep the quota because they might need it in the future, but the smaller-scale fishers feel that their businesses might be more viable if they were allocated a larger share of the allowable catch.

The news story from the BBC is here.

If you want to read more about the small-fisher perspective, check out what the New Under Ten Fishermens Association have to say here.

An official statement from the IK Association of Fish Producer Organisations (representing 'big business interests') can be seen here.