"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:28:00 +0000, Eiron wrote:

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Iain
Churches
wrote:

Have you ever met a cod fisherman who gets a golden handshake of UKP 7M
when he returns with his net empty?


Erm... my recollection is that some owners of fishing boats were paid to
take their boats out of use and cease fishing. The reason being the
damage
they were doing to the fish stocks. No idea what they were paid, but
there
may be an parallel at some level.

The reason was the damage that the European Union was doing to fish stocks
with its Common Fisheries Policy, forcing UK fishermen out of business
with little compensation while allowing overfishing by the subsidised
Spanish fleet.

The big problem seem to remember was that our government was asking
our fishermen - particularly in Cornwall - not to fish, and the
Spaniards bought up all their fishing licenses. We then had the
spectacle of Newquay fishing boats on the beach and Spanish trawlers
hard at work twenty miles offshore.



OK, I've been a bit too obscure - my comment wasn't really to do with
*payouts* or dodgy, 'anti British' EU policies, but with a couple of
industries that have worked their 'income sources' to death with too much
short-sighted greed and are now 'reaping the benefits' and
shrinking/disappearing as a result...!!