Oceana recently audited the state of UK fish stocks, finding that out of 105 stocks, only 41% were fished sustainably. Over a quarter of stocks have been driven to critically low levels. Even the mighty cod, staple of a thousand years of British fishing, is at rock bottom, with scientists advising none are taken anywhere around the UK next year.

To get us out of this hole, government ministers must treat fish more like they treat money. Sustainable fishing is like having money in the bank. The breeding fish populations in the sea represent the capital in the account. Those savings produce annual interest in the form of new fish which can be caught by the industry. The more savings you have, the more interest you get. When there are lots of fish in the ocean bank, they generate healthy levels of interest to power prosperous and sustainable industry.

But sadly, fisheries ministers apply a different logic from Chancellors of the Exchequer. Chancellors tell us that we can’t have everything we want and need, like better hospitals or fewer holes in the road, because there isn’t enough money. But fisheries ministers seem to believe that nature’s bank account is bottomless and will continue to pour forth interest regardless of what we take.

The biggest job in a fisheries minister’s calendar is deciding how many fish the industry can take in the coming year. It would be an easier task if they could make the decisions alone, but many fish stocks straddle the waters of other countries, so we must negotiate with them. Instead of confronting the challenge of how to slice up the fish cake into sustainable pieces to divide among fishing nations, ministers usually just conjure up a bigger cake. That way everybody takes home a larger slice. But when the industry catches those fish, if they can find them, they eat their future prosperity.