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Brexit hardman Michael Gove is to stop French and German fishing boats trawling to within six miles of Britain’s coast.

The Environment Secretary is ripping up the 1964 London Fisheries Convention which precedes our EU membership by nine years.

It gave France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and Holland the right to fish between six and 12 miles off our shores.

Now Mr Gove will announce he is pulling out of that deal in two years along with the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy which allows European boats to fish 12 to 200 miles offshore.

(Image: PA)

That means after Brexit no European vessel will be able to net British fish without permission.

Mr Gove said: “For the first time in more than fifty years we will be able to decide who can access our waters.

“This is an historic first step towards building a new domestic fishing policy as we leave the EU.”

Barrie Deas, boss of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, welcomed the move.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

He added: “It’s an important part of establishing the UK as an independent coastal state.”

The British fishing industry contributes £1.3 billion to the economy and employs 34,600 people.

There were more than 6,000 UK fishing vessels in 2015 which landed 708,000 tonnes of fish – worth £775 million.

But an estimated 10,000 tonnes of fish, including mackerel and herring, worth £17million was caught by fishing vessels from London Fisheries Convention countries.