Ever since the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) came into force on January 23, 1983, giving European countries equal access to British fishing grounds, we all knew its days were numbered.

More than two decades on, and we've seen our local fleets effectively scuppered by diminishing EU-set quotas and intense competition from foreign factory-sized trawlers scouring what used to be our own territorial waters.

How ironic it is, then, to see an EU-funded project being launched here on the Northumberland coast, to chart the heritage and origins of the very fishing industry it effectively helped to destroy.

The hope is that this pilot study will lead to a longer term study of fishing heritage in Northumberland, also funded through EU sources, that might involve partners from other fishing countries such as Holland, Denmark and Sweden.

I for one would much rather have seen a viable fishing industry flourishing in Seahouses and Amble than reading about what it used to be like in a book.