Fishing against the odds: fishers’ motivations to carry on fishing in the wake of the hindering EU Common Fishery Policy—a case study in North Shields, UK

The UK’s fishing industry has contracted considerably since 1972 due to overfishing, increased fuel prices, and implementation of the European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Despite this decline affecting the industry at large and the incomes of fishers, some fishers have carried on, or even freshly started or returned to the business. Why have these fishers done so despite the challenges they encounter in the fishing industry? In this article, we investigate why some fishers still choose to fish in the wake of all the EU regulations designed to control overfishing by reducing the size of the industry and discouraging entry by taking measures that affect revenues. Our data are collected through ethnographic research involving participant observation and interviews with fishers in North Shields, England. Based on our findings, we argue that the decision to carry on fishing, or even to return, is predominantly based on so-called intrinsic motivations, rather than on cost-benefit calculations, and stems from three interlinked basic human emotional needs which fishing seems to fulfil: the need to connect (sometimes also defined as the need to relate or belong); the desire for autonomy; and the desire to show competence (and have that competence recognized by relevant others). As such, the findings offer a fresh way to explain fishers’ decisions, based on a deliberated choice, to remain or leave the sector, and to understand and interrogate the challenges confronting present-day fishing both on a local level in the UK and also for Europe at large.