The relationship between commercial fishing operators and regulators is too often defined by friction, marked by suspicion, box-ticking compliance and a persistent sense that decisions are made far from the quayside, writes Phil Haslam, managing director, North Atlantic Fishing Company

The EFRA Committee’s latest report confirms this, pointing to a lack of trust between fishing communities and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This has been sharpened by the perceived shortcomings of the UK’s 12-year reciprocal access deal with the EU.