An Imperiled UK Fishing Fleet Could Be Used for Defense

British waters may be full of Russian trawlers looking for anything but fish, and more interested in cables and pipelines. But the United Kingdom’s own domestic fishing fleet is facing extinction, outmaneuvered by competition from European trawlers granted access to British fish quotas.

As predicted by those who had campaigned for a British fishing industry revival, it turns out that the European Union has been the winner from the deal. The European fishing fleet enjoys subsidies on maritime diesel, whereas British trawlers play the full commercial rate. Fuel prices in the UK are amongst the highest in the world, only marginally cheaper than in Hong Kong and Singapore, because of a marginal pricing system but primarily because renewable energy infrastructure costs in the UK are applied to energy bills rather than paid for through general taxation.

This means that when British fish is sold into the European market – which was supposedly the great win secured by the December 2025 deal – it cannot compete in price terms with fish caught by European trawlers. Nor can British-caught fish compete in the home market with fish caught in the same waters by European trawlers. Unable to compete on cost grounds, the British fishing fleet is in consequence struggling for survival.

This story was originally published by The Maritime Executive. Read the full story at The Maritime Executive →