Guy Standing

If there is one area where the Labour Party should come together it is in the strategy to revive the economy of the sea. Under common law, going way back, the sea, the seashore, the seabed and all in the sea belonging to the country are part of the commons, that is, the property that belongs to everybody, equally. Yet the sea has been subject to a greater ‘enclosure’ than land, and has been subject to a process of privatisation and financialisation that nobody who calls themselves a progressive should accept. This will become even more important since the sea is projected to double its contribution to global GDP to over 10%.

Consider a few facts. Since 1982, the UK owns four million square miles of sea under what is called its Exclusive Economic Zone. That part adjoining Britain is three times its total land area. But successive governments have overseen the privatisation of the blue economy and given vast subsidies to corporations, costing taxpayers billions of pounds and enhancing the profits of foreign capital and financial firms.

Take the seabed. It has always been accepted as a commons, with the government and monarchy required to act as the Steward, expected to respect what is known as the Public Trust Doctrine, that is, to act in such ways as to ensure the commons is kept intact and in good condition. So, why has the left kept quiet while the Crown Estate has been auctioning off thousands of square miles of our seabed, earning an income flow estimated to be £9 billion, while selling rights to multinational capital? More auctions are planned. Details are given in my book, The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea. Labour should make it clear that it will block further privatisation of our seabed.

Then there is fishing. Starting in 1967, the government operates a complex system by which it hands over what are private property rights as ‘fish quota’ to selected fishing companies. A trick played was that the amount of quota given to companies was based on recorded past catches. Until quite recently, small-scale fishers were not required to keep records of how much they caught.

So, when the current system came into effect, they were excluded from the main ‘pool’ of quota. A result is that today just 25 firms own over two-thirds of all the quota, and five families, all on the Sunday Times Rich List, own 29%. They are given virtual ownership of the fish, denying all small-scale fishermen the right to catch much at all. This was not the fault of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy; the Leave Campaign lied that it was.

Making the situation worse, the government hands out £120 million a year in subsidies, most going to the corporates. And they have treated the law with contempt. Thirteen of the top 25 firms were caught clandestinely breaking the quota rules, catching 170,000 tonnes of illegal excess fish worth £63 million. They received fines but nobody was imprisoned because under British law it is merely a civil offence, not criminal. And they were allowed to keep their quota. The book gives later cases.

The government slashed the budget of the Marine Management Organisation, the body responsible for policing what happens at sea. And there are just 12 coastguard vessels to monitor 773,000 square kilometres – one for every 64,000. This is de facto deregulation. It should be seen in the context of one fact. Because economic growth has been given precedence over preservation of the commons, subsidies have helped fisheries become more ‘efficient’, meaning more fish are taken than is sustainable. As a result, the hourly catch today is just 6% of what it was a century ago. At current rates, our children will have no British sea fish to eat.             

Then there is aquaculture. Over half the seafood we eat today comes from onshore and offshore fish farming. This is another sphere where foreign capital has come to dominate. It is a form of enclosure. Giant fish farms are doing ecological damage, and big companies, most notably the Norwegian Mowi, only bear half the production costs. In Norway, the government is imposing a 40% levy on the cash-flow of such firms. Labour should match that.  

Then there are our ports and harbours. Thatcher privatised all ports, and most have fallen into the hands of foreign capital, much of it Chinese and much controlled by private equity, a form of finance notorious for seeking short-term profit maximisation, asset stripping and ecological disdain. At the time of writing, there is a scandal in the Teeside, where local fishermen have had their livelihoods destroyed by the port owners dredging and dumping 250,000 tonnes of sediment in the sea, killing off crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. The port and the river authority are run by the subsidiary of a Canadian private equity company. All ports should be nationalised or at least mutualised.   

Then there are the giant cruise ships and container ships. They use the most polluting ‘bunker diesel’ and keep their engines going all the time they are in port. They cause more pollution than all the cars on our roads. Yet they are allowed to do it. A study showed that throat cancer and other ailments linked to their pollution mean that around Europe these boats are responsible for 50,000 premature deaths each year.

Then there are what will be two big ‘blue growth’ areas. Mining in the sea is very profitable and deep sea mining for minerals needed for electric batteries and much more is about to take off on a major scale in 2023, for reasons outlined in the book. Marine scientists are acutely concerned. But mining companies and big finance investing in them are lobbying effectively.

Here is a predicament Labour must address. Under the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, the International Seabed Authority was to draw up a Mining Code and regulate what happens in the Deep Sea. The ISA was set up in 1994, but after 28 years it still has not drawn up the Code. This is significant, because the Code is meant to ensure that income from the deep sea is shared by all humanity, so that capital is not the sole beneficiary. Powerful interests have ensured the Code does not exist. Labour should demand it be drawn up without further delay.

Perhaps above all, the development of intellectual property rights in the sea should cause all of us alarm, as it relates to what will become a huge part of the global economy. There are already 13,000 patents in ‘marine genetic resources’, vital for future medicines among others, guaranteeing their owners monopoly profits for 20 years. Over 47% of the patents are possessed by one corporation, the German chemical giant BASF; 76% are possessed by three countries, Germany, the USA and Japan. Britain is nowhere. Labour must have a policy to redress that.

Finally, Labour should develop a strategy that combines revival of the blue commons with a shift to what could be called eco-fiscal policy, by raising revenue from levies on profits from activities that use and deplete common resources. The proceeds should be channelled into a Blue Commons Capital Fund, along lines of what has been done in Norway. From the Fund, Common Dividends could be paid out, as a form of common property right, a basic income by another name. It can be done.      

picture credit : Ed Dunens flickr      

Guy Standing is Professorial Research Fellow, SOAS University of London and a Council member of the Progressive Economy Forum. He is author of various books, including The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class and The Corruption of Capitalism: Why Rentiers thrive and Work does not pay.

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