.... here is an interesting article published in the Daily Express. It is not particularly well written and the quotes from various eurosceptic organizations could be better phrased. (To be fair to the people who made those statements, it is possible that originally they were completely different.) Let us simply have a look at the facts and figures:

ALMOST £2.5billion of British taxpayers’ money is to be given to the Czech Republic by the EU – to help boost the landlocked country’s fishing industry.

The money is part of a £19billion package agreed by Brussels to help develop industries in the Czech Republic and tackle unemployment.

The unemployment in the Czech Republic is, in fact, rather high, the promised economic benefits of EU membership not having materialized, though it is a little lower than unemployment in the UK. However, there is more:

The fisheries sector, which accounts for just 0.04 per cent of the Czech Republic economy, will benefit from at least £24million of ring-fenced money.

That is the way fiscal matters are arranged in the European Union. Does Mr Lochhead really think anything will change if Scotland becomes "independent within the EU"?

EU Business, that is completely pro-EU in all its vagaries, reports that there will be not cut-backs on the subsidies handed out to France, Portugal and, especially, Spain for the "modernization" of their fishing fleet. These subsidies have been handed out for several decades. One would think that by now all the fleets have been "modernized". Apparently not. Apparently, while quotas are being cut back and fishermen of other countries are encouraged to sell off their boats, these fleets will grow and grow at the European Union taxpayers' expense. What would we do without the Common Fisheries Policy?

While we all debate the various ways the so-called reform of the Common Fisheries Policy might affect various fishing fleets and fishing ports, it might be a good idea to have a look at what is happening with the largest of the EU fishing fleets, the Spanish one.

An article on EUObserver, published in association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, an organization that has been spending time on investigating the operation of the Common Fisheries Policy with regards to Spanish practices, gives us some interesting though not surprising information.

Decades of overfishing have left Europe’s fish stocks in peril and its fishermen in poverty. It’s an impasse paid for by EU taxpayers. Yet a proposed revision of the EU’s fishing law, hailed as sweeping reform, is rapidly losing momentum.

A look at the industry’s biggest player - Spain - shows what officials are up against. Billions of euros in subsidies built its bloated fleet and propped up a money-losing industry. All the while, companies systematically flout the rules while officials overlook fraud and continue to fund offenders, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has found.

Well, dear me. So those officials are up against the problems of Spain claiming and getting huge subsidies and flouting the rules? And exactly who created the system in which this situation became possible? Not the officials, perchance, with politicians nodding everything through in order to be seen communautaire and, maybe, getting a deal somewhere else?

So let's have a look at those figures:

The Spanish fishing industry has received more than €5.8 billion (more than $8 billion and just over £5 billion) in subsidies since 2000 for everything from building new vessels and breaking down old ships to payments for retiring fishermen and training for the next generation, an fresh analysis by ICIJ shows.

Subsidies account for almost a third of the value of the industry. Simply put, nearly one in three fish caught on a Spanish hook or raised in a Spanish farm is paid for with public money.

And that is not all.

ICIJ’s analysis is the first in-depth look at just how much public aid Spain has received for fishing - primarily from EU taxpayers, but also from Madrid and regional governments. The country has cornered a third of all the EU’s fishing aid since 2000, far more than any other member state. The central government doles out even more for things such as low interest loans and funding for its largest industry associations, which in turn lobby the EU for more industry subsidies, records show. Since 2000, the sector has avoided paying €2 billion in taxes on fuel to the Spanish Treasury.

Public monies also fund a surprising range of services. More than €82 million ($114 million) has been spent to promote the fishing sector through advertising and at trade shows. After fishing vessels were hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean, Spain in 2009 changed its law to allow vessels to hire private security forces onboard, and then it helped foot the bill to the tune of €2.8 million.

The root of the problem, regulators say, is that out-of-control subsidies encourage countries to build up already oversized fleets that are rapidly depleting the seas.

Well, some countries, anyway, and as mentioned above, the regulators created this system.