You'd have to be drunk to argue giving away our precious fish makes sense

Many of us enjoy a good glass of wine, and it's likely that our favourite appellations are European '“ French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese.

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive, Scottish Fishermens Federation

Oddly enough, grape harvests are regarded by these countries as a natural national resource (in some cases, a national treasure).

The vines of Bordeaux, Rioja, Veneto or Duoro are quite rightly not shared among other European nations.

Why raise this rather obvious point? Simply to highlight the absurdity of the position we in the fishing industry face because of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Under this frankly bonkers framework we have been compelled to give away almost 60 per cent of the fish stocks in our waters, known as the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to other European countries.

That’s half of our demersal or whitefish, almost two-thirds of our pelagic stocks – mainly mackerel and herring – and almost all of our industrial fish.

The case for repatriating powers over fisheries in our waters is overwhelming – legally, economically, morally. Anything short of the restoration of complete control would be a colossal betrayal.

Under international law we are entitled to resume control over our EEZ and take our place at the top table as a Coastal State in fisheries negotiations.

It is clear to us that this is recognised by our governments at Westminster and Holyrood, given the evidence of the respective fisheries ministers to the Commons and Scottish Parliament. They have been left in no doubt – and will continue to be reminded – that the industry will not accept continued bondage in the disastrous straitjacket of the CFP or anything that resembles it.

We want to redress the clear imbalance in catching opportunity for the economic benefit of our communities – and to do so we need control back.

It is natural that other nations will wish to negotiate for access to our waters. This can happen after Brexit, with decisions made on the basis of benefit to the new Coastal State.

Figures from the NAFC Marine Centre in Shetland show that the EU fisheries giveaway represents an annual loss (and therefore potential gain) to our economy of more than £400 million per year.

An injection of cash on this scale would result in real jobs – in fishing, engineering, processing, haulage and support services – in rural and often remote communities where opportunities are limited.

Lest anyone be in doubt about the presence of fish in our waters, a recent study commissioned by the SFF and undertaken by Aberdeen University scientists demonstrated that for all but three out of 17 commercial species, the UK quotas (as a percentage of the total allowable catch) were less than the size of the stocks in our waters.

And to those who leap to the wrong conclusion about all this – that stocks will be overfished – I remind them that the overall catch will remain the same, all that will change is the proportion of it caught by our boats.

The industry in Scotland – which has pioneered a range of measures to improve sustainability – has an obvious interest in ensuring a strong future for the coming generations of fishermen.

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive, Scottish Fishermen’s Federation