 He instead merged in the local Port of Grimsby Trawl Fishermen's Protective Society, and renamed the organisation as the "National Union of British Fishermen".The merger was not a success for the union, which lost half of its membership in 1920, many members defecting to the NUS.An unsuccessful industrial dispute in Fleetwood destroyed the local branch that year, while the other branches petered out by 1922, in part due to the economic difficulties of the fishing industry.