Paul Lines told Express.co.uk that the UK’s fishing industry has the potential to grow from around 0.5 percent of Britain’s GDP to 3.5 if zonal attachment is reintroduced after the post-Brexit transition period. Mr Lines added that Britain’s coastal communities will thrive off having a fishery and it may result in thousands of jobs created within the fishing sector.
Mr Lines said: “I don’t think GDP has any bearing on anything because if you put zonal attachment back and we get the fish back that we should have in our water, GDP will rise to about 3.5 percent.
“3.5 percent is not to be scoffed at and also it is meaningless when you talk about GDP in terms of jobs.
“Coastal communities thrive off having a fishery, there would be thousands of jobs developed directly involved in fishing.
“The nation’s GDP should not deny communities thousands of jobs.
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“You can’t judge anything on GDP because it has to rise and get bigger.
“Any jobs that come from Brexit are good jobs so I don’t think that should have any bearing on it whatsoever.”
The British fisherman also stated during his 45 years as a fisherman he has only seen the demise of the British sector.
However, he insisted following Brexit, the UK can return to its former glory and replace their European competition as the dominant force in the industry.
“What we have got left we struggle to get a living from.”
He added: “We gave it all away to be part of Europe, now we want it back.
“We want to see their boats cut up, we want to see their new modern fleet gone because we want that.
“As a country we have got to have that, if we are going to survive on our own, we have got to have everything that we can bring to play to make money.”
