The astounding recovery of the North Sea cod to the point where fillets on the cold shelf are now about to be awarded the blue tick of eco-certification, after years of danger was not a victory for the EU.
In fact, we should thank a British initiative that went beyond the EU’s flawed recovery plan. The fortunes of cod should stand as a model of how Britain could manage its waters better, and resist pressure for access from other countries once it becomes an independent coastal state.
The revival of this fish nearly did not happen. As I reported on the front page of this newspaper in 1997, at one point illegal fishing was taking 50 per cent of cod, haddock and saithe in the North Sea. Fishermen were throwing away the only promising year of juveniles for decades as discards. A Newfoundland-style crash was on the cards.
Telegraph Media Group Limited 2017