Fishery Protection Squadron

The Fishery Protection Squadron is the Royal Navy unit that polices fishing grounds in United Kingdom and adjacent waters, claiming descent as the Navy’s oldest front-line squadron. Its modern remit covers enforcement of fisheries law and economic-zone rights in the UK Exclusive Economic Zone and inshore waters, using offshore patrol vessels of the River class. The squadron’s lineage is traced to seventeenth-century cruisers convoying and protecting the herring and cod fisheries against foreign encroachment and privateers.