Tag Archives: Brexit
Devon fishermen left feeling ‘betrayed’ by Brexit
Devon fishermen are claimed to have been left feeling ‘betrayed’ by Brexit – something they originally thought would benefit them. South Devon MP Caroline Voaden told the House of Commons the fishermen “face a landscape filled with uncertainty, rather than the bright, sunlit uplands they were promised”. The Liberal Democrat MP, whose constituency includes Brixham, was speaking during a debate on fishing policy. Brixham, she said, was the most valuable port in England and Wales in terms of catch landed, recording £60 million in fish sales last year. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:48
How fishing rights could prove key to the UK’s new negotiations with the EU
Over eight years after the Brexit referendum, crucial decisions about the UK’s future relationship with the bloc are about to be made. Decisions over softened immigration rules, the future of Gibraltar and wider economic access are all likely to be discussed as Labour prepares to negotiate in earnest for the first time with the EU as the Trade and Cooperation Agreement reaches its five-year renegotiation mark. Sir Keir Starmer, whose political career was catapulted into the limelight by his prominent support for a 2nd referendum on Brexit and an overall closer relationship with Europe, has sought to reset relations with the EU since becoming Prime Minister and will be scrutinized heavily over his choices in the negotiations. The discussions over fishing have seemingly jumped to the top of the EU’s priority list, following a number of disputes since the Trade and Co-operation Agreement. Despite relatively cordial relations between the UK and EU over the past few years, fishing has remained controversial. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:47
Harsh verdict on post-Brexit ‘sea of opportunity’
UK Fisheries operates the Hull freezer trawler Kirkella, having taken trawlers Norma Mary and Farnella out of service due to the lack of fishing opportunities, laying off the majority of their crews. ‘Not only has this had a devastating impact on them and their families, it has also dealt a severe blow to the social and economic fabric of the Humberside region,’ a UK Fisheries representative commented, referring to what the company refers to as ‘the abject failure of the fisheries policy of the previous administration.’ more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:09
‘I’m a fisherman and lifelong Tory who voted Brexit. I won’t vote for them again’
Fisherman James Stephen has been at sea for more than 40 years. Based in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, which is home to the largest fishing port in Europe, he voted for Brexit in 2016 in the hope it would give his community a greater share of fishing in UK waters. But eight years on, he feels he was sold a “pack of lies” and says it has cost the Conservatives his vote at the general election. “I would say that 99 per cent of the fishing industry would have voted for Brexit in the hope that we could get back control of our waters, rightfully get our share of [fishing] quota which was given away when we joined the EU,” says Mr Stephen. “I hoped, by voting for Brexit, we could undo some of the unjust that was done to the industry then. But for me, it’s been a total disaster. Nothing we were promised materialised.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:40
In a proud and troubled UK town, voters wonder whether their election choice will make a difference
“At the last election, I voted Conservative because Johnson promised our waters back, and lied through his teeth,” said Stan Rennie, a fisherman who has caught lobster off Hartlepool for five decades but says he can scarcely scrape a living anymore. “Because we’re the northeast, I don’t think the government even knows we exist,” he said. “We’re the forgotten land.” A proud, rugged town jutting into the North Sea 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of London, Hartlepool is scarred by industrial decline. The shipyards and steelworks that once employed thousands are long gone. The fishing fleet has been shrinking for years. In a 2016 referendum, Hartlepool voted heavily to leave the European Union, persuaded by Johnson and other Brexit-backers that quitting the bloc would let the U.K. control immigration and free up billions in cash for struggling communities. photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:56
Fishy Business: How Brexit Failed To Help a Dying Industry
Brexit promised fishermen to take back control of the waters and get rid of foreign boats in British waters. But since the UK broke up with the European Union, little has changed. British fishing communities continue to struggle, as big companies, many of them international conglomerates, have bought quotas for the country’s most valuable species, controlling the price of the fish from sea to plate. Fishermen believed that the promised reforms, made possible by leaving what they saw as a restrictive European Union, would revive the national fishing industry, and with it bring back — at least to some extent — the prosperity of the past. They turned out to be empty promises. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:12
Fisherman ‘sold down the river’ by Brexit
A Cornish fisherman who voted for Brexit said the fleet had been “sold down the river” because foreign boats were still fishing near the coast. Cornish MP Steve Double raised the issue in parliament this week saying the under-10m (33ft) fleet was “sadly in decline” and had been losing more than 100 vessels each year. Martin Gilbert, who fishes mainly for shellfish out of Newquay harbour and voted for Brexit but said the current deal had “sold us down the river”. “The French, the Belgians and the Spanish have still got the majority of the quota,” he said. “We have to go past the French to fish in our own waters and it’s not right.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:42
How fishing was gutted by Brexit
Nigel Farage launched a poster campaign in Grimsby in 2015 and, notwithstanding the fishing industry accounting for a mere 0.03 per cent of the British economy (around half the size of the UK biscuit industry!), it became totemic in the Leave campaign. Half of England’s fishing quotas had been sold to foreign interests, and two thirds were in the hands of just 25 extremely wealthy owners. Even so, the idea was pushed that Brexit would benefit the small fishing villages, with their families of cheery, bearded Captain Bird’s Eye characters. And despite Britain being a net importer of fish (importing nearly twice as much as we exported), British waters not containing the sort of fish British people like to eat, and nearly 40 per cent of all British fishing happening in foreign waters, Brexiters clamoured for us to ‘take back control’ of British waters for British fisherman. So how has Brexit affected the British fishing industry? more, >>click to read<< 18:39
‘Still 1,700 EU vessels plundering British seas’ UK fishermen reveal TRUTH of ‘sell-out’ deal capitulating to France
The fishing community has been left fuming four years on from the UK’s departure from the EU after accusing the UK of signing up to a “sell-out” Brexit deal in capitulation to France. Former Brexit Party MEP June Mummery, who is also the managing director of the Lowestoft-based fish market auctioneers BFP Eastern, said: “We haven’t taken back control of our waters and the resource. “Fishing, coastal communities were stabbed in the back. The UK fishing is on its knees. ”There are still 1,700 EU vessels plundering, unmonitored, unregulated. “Eight of which are super trawlers. DEFRA wants the small fishermen gone to make way for wind mills.” more, >>click to read<< 07:27
New research finds low levels of trust in fisheries institutions post-Brexit
Rebuilding trust in fisheries governance will be vital to create a sustainable industry post-Brexit England, according to new research. Strong trust between managers and fishers is essential for achieving sustainable fisheries, but new research from the University of East Anglia has found worryingly low levels of trust in fisheries following the UK’s departure from the European Union. Lead researcher of the Pyramids of Life project Dr. Silvia Ferrini, “We found continued low levels of trust, possibly made worse by Brexit, with further deterioration compared to previous research.” more, >>click to read<< 20:52
Happy fourth birthday Brexit!
On January 31 it will be four short years since the UK officially left the EU. The end of 47 years of membership was marked by Boris Johnson with a party, at which English fizz, and canapes of Shropshire blue cheese, Scottish shortbread and British roast beef were served. The then PM, these days merely a disgraced former MP, told the gathered lackeys that “this is not the end, it is a beginning”. For once in his life, Johnson was telling the truth. January 31, 2020 marked the beginning of a disastrous period of national decline and humiliation. If you want to know just how bad it has been you just have to measure his claims then against reality now. more >>click to read<< 07:29
Brexit Britain takes ‘full advantage’ of EU exit to deliver yet another major fishing win
Britain is taking advantage of post-Brexit freedoms to deliver more support for UK sustainable fishing. New plans have been published today to help protect and recover key fishing stocks. The first five Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) set out how the Government will work with the fishing industry and other stakeholders to support the sustainable management of species such as crab, lobster, king scallop and bass. more, >>click to read<< 10:40
Post Brexit freedoms to deliver more support for UK sustainable fishing – New plans to help protect and recover key fishing stocks have been published today (Thursday 14 December), seizing on the opportunities of the UK’s post-Brexit freedoms to support coastal jobs and protect the marine environment. more, >>click to read<< 10:40
UK secures £970million fishing stock with EU in deal ‘better than if we were in the bloc’
A new set of agreements between Norway and the UK opens up an estimated €1billion in fishing opportunities for the EU country, the European Commission has said. The UK meanwhile has secured an estimated £970million in the deal. It comes after years of haggling over post-Brexit fishing arrangements which have left hundreds of UK fishermen “betrayed” – but the Government says the new deal for 2024 provides more for UK fishermen than it would have done were we still in the bloc. Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said: “These significant deals give UK fishermen access to important fish stocks worth £970million and take advantage of our position outside the EU to independently negotiate in our fishing fleets best interest. more, >>click to read<< 08:32
Review of the Byline TV documentary – Betrayed: The Big Brexit Lie
Up to 70% of voters in Grimsby supported Brexit because they believed it would usher in a return to the days when the docks effectively constituted a small town, complete with cafes, shops and banks. The trade was so lucrative, crews returning to land their catch would be known as ‘three-day millionaires’. A return to past prosperity is what politicians like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage appeared to promise, with both taking advantage of photo opportunities to rally support at the daily fish market. Yet when the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement was finally delivered, the betrayal became strikingly evident. Barry Deas of the National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations declared the industry had been “sacrificed”, and Martin Boyers, CEO of Grimsby Fish Market described it as “… just rhetoric and broken promises”. The deal that Johnson and David Frost had negotiated had essentially made it much harder for British fisheries to sell into their largest market – the current accumulated trade deficit for the industry amounts to £1.7bn. >>click to read<< 10:26
Scottish Port Feels Force Of UK Fishing Storm
In Peterhead, a major port in northeast Scotland and Europe’s largest wholesale market for white fish, Brexit was supposed to offer “a sea of opportunity” for locals. Instead they have suffered a wave of complications and added financial costs in recent years, even before the impact of surging inflation. “Careful what you wish for, it hasn’t turned out as they promised,” Mark Addison says in front of his trawler, the Benarkle II, which is moored just behind Peterhead’s fish market. “It’s been the hardest three years,” he tells AFP. “Brexit followed by the (Ukraine) war was just a double whammy.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring worldwide, with the fishing industry hit hard by rocketing fuel prices and large cost increases for key equipment such as nets. Photos. >>click to read<< 08:34
Cormac Burke: Desperation is turning to anger in Ireland’s fishing industry
As readers see this article, there’ll be a temptation to think its just another fishing industry sob story, and indeed who could blame them? It is decades since we’ve heard anything positive and yet this sector consists of thousands of people in coastal communities crying out that their traditional way of life is being gradually eliminated and eradicated by government. I could launch into the tragic list of catastrophes that have befallen the fishing sector over the last 20 years due to blatant mismanagement by successive governments, marine ministers, and senior civil servants but these tragedies were more by design than by accident. The Irish public rarely gets to see the true face of the fishing sector and how our politicians managed to get Ireland’s fishermen the worst possible deal from Brexit negotiations,,, >click to read< 15:48
Hundreds of Scots fisherman face losing jobs as new rules brand them too fat to fish
UK Government regulations which are about to come into force will mean seafarers must have a medical certificate showing a body mass index (BMI) of under 35 – or risk being banned from their own trawlers. Crewmen fear they will not be able to go to sea because of the draconian requirements. Furious fishermen branded the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) rules “discrimination”. Bob Dunsire, 49, who has been skippering prawn boats out of Pittenweem, Fife, since he was a teenager, said he can barely believe what is being done to the industry. He said: “I know I don’t have a BMI under 35 and I’m furious at these new medical requirements. They could see me out of my job and put my entire crew out of work, too. Photos, >click to read< 08:00
‘We are at 50% of the quota we had’: boss of UK’s last long-range trawler rues ‘squandered’ Brexit hopes
Just hours after docking, the latest catch – about 300 tonnes of frozen fish fillets – has already been transported in Kirkella-branded boxes to the fish market at Grimsby, to be weighed, graded and sold. While this may sound like a vast amount of fish, the UK’s only remaining “distance trawler” has returned home only half-full from its latest expedition. “The catch wasn’t so good this time,” says the first mate, Dean Jackson, 53, who is finishing up checks of the vessel on the bridge before enjoying some time at home with his family after about six weeks at sea. “Fishing is erratic,” he says. “We had four days when it was really good. But the problem when you get really good fishing is you’re at the mercy of the factory and processing.” >click to read< 12:27
Suffolk and Essex fish industry revitalized by selling at Brixham
Fishermen on the Suffolk and Essex coast have begun selling their catches to a market 350 miles away and said the move has been “a game changer”. Brixham market in Devon now regularly collects fish from the east coast and sells it through its online auction. Those involved said it revitalised the fortunes of an industry whose expansion hopes were dashed after Brexit. But critics fear its success will make it harder for Lowestoft to set up its own fishing hub. Three times a week a lorry from the Brixham Fish Market visits a refrigerated lock-up at Southwold harbour in Suffolk.”It’s been a game changer for all of us,” said Fran French from Mersea Fishermen’s Association on the Essex coast. Photos, >click to read< 08:25
Gripes in Grimsby over Brexit fishing failure
Grimsby, perched on the southern side of the River Humber, near Kingston-upon-Hull in northern England, was built on the fishing industry. Some 70 percent of people in the town voted for Brexit, hoping that the UK’s departure from the European Union would boost its flagging fortunes. But seven years on from the landmark referendum, those who banked on a turnaround are disappointed, while those who feared it are not taking it lying down. At 7:00 am, the auction at Grimsby’s wholesale fish market in the heart of the town’s vast docks is in full swing. “We have mackerel. 1.5 (pounds) a kilo? 1.7? 1.8? 1.9?” shouts the auctioneer. >click to read< 08:27
Brexiteer highlights four things Rishi can do to save Britain’s battered fishing industry
Britain’s long-suffering fishermen still need to be shown the benefits to quitting the European Union, Tory MP Sir John Redwood has said, seven years after the nation voted for Brexit. And the long-term Eurosceptic has pinpointed four things Rishi Sunak’s Government can do to demonstrate the decision was the right one. Many fishermen backed Brexit from the beginning, spearheaded by the Fishing for Leave campaign, which saw it as an integral way to seize back control of the seas around Britain. However, many were left bitterly disappointed by the end result, believing the deal signed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson have given too much away to Brussels. Video, >click to read< 13:34
Brexit revives historic herring fishing after 25-year hiatus
The Isle of Man’s historic herring industry is being revived after a quarter of a century thanks to a post-Brexit deal with the UK over fishing quotas. The island’s fishermen will be able to land four times as many herring as before and will also be allowed to catch 235 tonnes of langoustines, worth a total of more than £2 million per year to the island’s economy. The Manx fishing industry was brought to its knees by the European Union Common Fisheries Policy, which placed strict limits on the size of catches in the 1980s. >click to read< 16:49
MP says East fishing industry ‘still struggling’ after Brexit
Peter Aldous, the MP for Waveney in Suffolk, told a parliamentary debate on the state of fishing that there had been “no significant improvement” since Britain left the EU. He blamed high fuel costs and labour shortages as well as “the poor terms for fishing that were negotiated”. “In many respects the situation has got worse,” he told the debate. “Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex have some of the richest fishing grounds in northern Europe but I’m afraid catch opportunities for local fishermen remain poor because we do not have full control over our waters.” >click to read< 08:50
Hook, Line, and Sinker: How Brexit betrayed the UK fishing industry
Retired fisherman Charlie Waddy, former first mate of the Kirkella, knows what’s at stake on the ocean. His close friend died while working on deck beside him; his father was lost at sea returning from Iceland and Norway when Waddy, the youngest of seven children, was just three years old. But for the desperate hand of a nearby crewmate, Waddy himself nearly went overboard, his chances of survival slim in the frigid and pulsating waters below. Believing evocative memories of trawlers departing for distant seas might be reclaimed, Waddy voted for Brexit. He said he now felt betrayed by politicians who extoled the benefits of leaving the EU but then failed to deliver. “I wish I never,” he sighed. “They told us everything that we wanted to hear.” Photos, > click to read< 08:30
CEO says over regulation has led to the demise of the fishing industry
The fishing industry is facing the gravest challenges of our time with a decline in the number of young people joining the industry and a serious decline in profits reaped from the the processing and exporting sector, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association (IFPEA), Brendan Byrne. The Creenveen-based CEO said: “There is no doubt that we are facing the gravest challenges of our time as a result of Brexit and the TCA agreement. I suppose historically we have been treated very unfairly by the Common Fisheries Policy – they only allow us to catch, on average, 15% of all the fish in Irish waters; the other 85% is shared among other EU countries.” >click to read< 15:14
Scots fishermen who backed Brexit betrayed after Tories ‘promised a new dawn’
Fuming Scots fishermen who once backed Brexit have said they were promised a “new dawn” before being “sold down the river”. Speaking at Peterhead Harbour, skipper Peter Bruce said the reality of leaving Europe had shattered his trust in Brexiteer politicians. He said: “It’s been a big disappointment, to be quite honest. The politicians came up from London, Boris Johnson came up a couple of times, the highest levels of government came up to Peterhead Harbour, promising this new dawn for the fishing industry. And that new dawn hasn’t come.” >click to read< 08:32
Death by a Thousand Cuts – ‘We Have Fish, That’s Our Currency’
Just before midnight, David O’Neill navigated his trawler into the harbor in Union Hall, a small port in southwestern Ireland, the wake from the vessel sending tiny waves slapping against the pier. The crew swiftly unloaded their catch, using a crane to lift ice-packed crates of haddock and hake from the hold of the Aquila under bright spotlights. Less than an hour later, the Aquila would depart for its final trip. Two days later, the crew stripped the vessel’s contents — chains, buoys, ropes, steel cables, and hooks — and ejected them onto the pier, on their way to a shipyard to be scrapped. “This is coming with me,” Mr. O’Neill said as he unscrewed the Aquila’s wooden steering wheel. “It reminds you of all you’ve been through on this boat.” Photos, >click to read< 10:20
UK fishing industry gets green light to hire more overseas workers
Ministers have quietly agreed to allow more overseas workers to join the UK fishing industry, as the sector struggles with labour shortages and post-Brexit export regulations. Share fishermen, trawler skippers and deckhands on large fishing vessels are to be added to the government’s shortage occupation list, a scheme which allows UK employers to pay overseas workers about 80 per cent of the usual wage in certain industries. The opening of the UK’s doors to more overseas fishermen is a tacit recognition that Brexit has not generated the boom in the sector that had been promised by Boris Johnson and other Leave campaigners at the time of the 2016 referendum. >click to read < 07:52
A Crab’s Eye View of Brexit
Of all the vexing regulations that Brexit has thrust upon Paul Knight’s shellfish exporting business, the one he finds most absurd is this: Before he can deliver his crabs and lobsters to France and Spain, they must be certified by a veterinarian. Before Brexit that was relatively simple. But now, because of all the extra paperwork required, Alastair Mackie, the Dignity Jay’s skipper, must deliver his shellfish earlier. So he will finish fishing by 11.30 a.m., rather than 5 p.m., to get his catch on a ferry from the Isle of Mull to Oban on the Scottish mainland. Each week, the early finish cuts one day’s catch in half. When it took full effect, in January 2021, Brexit ended an era of easy trade with his markets in continental Europe. >click to read< 12:34
French fishermen begin two-day strike to highlight ‘plague of crises’
Many French fishermen have begun a two-day strike to highlight a “plague of crises” hitting their sector, including EU regulation and post-Brexit turmoil. They are being called to walk out on Thursday (March 30) and Friday (March 31) to call for more government support. Industry group le Comité national des pêches (CNP) says the journées mortes (dead days) in French ports would mean no fishing boats going out, no fish sales, and no processing of fish food items. >click to read< 08:00
