Tag Archives: Brexit
Whitby’s trawlermen urge the government to stand firm in the ongoing Brexit fishing rights negotiations
Richard Brewer has fished out of Whitby for decades. In the last 22 years he has had his son by his side, also called Richard. During those years both say they have seen the destruction of the British fishing industry, which they now want back. Indeed Richard Jr. said “when I was at school this harbour had more than 20 trawlers, now there’s only one… ours. That can’t be right.” His father has always felt that the fishing industry was “sold down the river” when Britain first entered the EU and he blames the European quota system for ruining the sector. Video, >click to read< 14:52
Brexit: Will Scottish fishing boats move to Northern Ireland?
Most of the fishing that takes place close to the west coast of Scotland is for shellfish, and most of the catch is exported to Europe. But an industry that is already struggling because demand has dried up during the Covid-19 pandemic is now facing the prospect of no trade deal between the UK and the EU. That would lead to tariffs (or taxes) on goods traded between them – making the produce of some Scottish fishermen too expensive for European customers. Whatever happens in the final weeks of post-Brexit trade talks, Northern Ireland will have easier access to the EU economy next year than the rest of the UK. Could some Scottish fishermen continue to fish in the same waters, but re-register their boats in Northern Ireland? >click to read< 09:17
Brexit Trade Deal: UK is Open to a Sensible Fishing Compromise, Environment Secretary Says
Trade talks between the EU and the UK after Brexit have been at an impasse for months due to broad differences over fishing quotas, a level playing field, and governance. “There are still differences. On fisheries we’ve always been open to doing a sensible approach, looking potentially at agreements that might span a couple, three years for instance. The issue will become what are the sharing arrangements, how much mutual access do we allow in one another’s waters and that’s obviously a discussion that will happen annually,,, >click to read< 09:20
Brexit May Be Too Late to Save Britain’s Fishermen
Derek Reader coats the deck of his 40-foot fishing boat in salt-resistant paint ahead of another punishing winter hunting plaice, turbot and cod in the Irish Sea. He hopes it will be his last season. The U.K. has made regaining control of its fishing grounds a central demand in protracted and fraught talks on a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union. Yet the last trawlerman in the English port of Fleetwood, which once boasted 120 vessels like his, plans to sell the MFV Albion and quit the industry. “I voted for Brexit and I hope that we do take back our waters, but it’s too late for Fleetwood,” said Reader, 60. “If a new fishing deal helps me get a better price that’s great, but I can’t make ends,,, >click to read< 09:39
French fishermen could pay to fish British waters after Brexit
According to an expert, French fishermen could be forced to pay to fish in British waters after Brexit. Prime Minister Boris Johnson could bill the French President Emmanuel Macron millions each year for fishermen who want access to our waters. A deal over fisheries could be struck between Johnson and Macron, but only if the French President backs down on his demands. “When I’ve talked to fishermen and the British fishing industry, they said they don’t want it all. The truth is, they can’t catch it all, the fleet isn’t big enough. >click to read< 08:49
Catches, quotas and communities: the key fisheries issues at stake
Only a few hours after accession talks had begun on 30 June 1970, the UK government was told that a common fisheries policy had been agreed by the original six members of the community. It was a fait accompli. The UK had to hand over equal access to its waters and the catch quotas for each country were fixed on the basis of the recorded catches of the various national fleets between 1973 and 1978. It led to some very unpalatable outcomes, including those in the Channel, where the UK’s share of the cod quota stands at 9%, whereas France’s share is 84%. Today, EU fishing fleets catch 675,000 tonnes of fish in UK waters – 60% of the total caught in the UK sector. British fishermen catch just 88,000 tonnes, or 16% of the fish taken in EU waters. >click to read< 13:39
Brexit: Thank-you note from 1666 could save Flemish fisheries
The United Kingdom is due to leave the EU at the end of this year, and unless a deal can be agreed before then, all of the existing rules governing trade relations between the two sides fall away. Among the issues forming a barrier to agreement is fisheries. The UK is unwilling to give way on fisheries policy, and wants to exclude all foreign boats from British waters. That would be the death-blow for the Belgian fishing industry,,, But help could be at hand, in the form of a document signed and sealed by Charles II in 1666. >click to read< 15:18
Brexit: Could a fight over British fish put a Brexit deal at risk? – Why the Brexit Talks Could Still Fail
For generations, boats have left this port to fish in the waters between France and England. Look across the water from Boulogne on a clear day and you can see Dover. It is just two and a half months until the end of the year, and the close of Britain’s transition period. If a Brexit trade deal has not been agreed by that point, Boulogne’s fishermen may face a truly profound change to their lives. Even if there is a deal, access to British coastal waters may be curtailed. If the UK leaves without an agreement, then the impact would probably be felt much more severely. >click to read< , Why the Brexit Talks Could Still Fail – >click to read<, Brexit: Fishing in Troubled Waters – >click to read< 10:30
SW Cornwall fishing industry fears destruction from Coronavirus and a ‘no deal’ Brexit double whammy
The South West fishing industry faces potential destruction from a “no deal” Brexit coupled with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a leading industry figure says. Jim Portus, chief executive of the South Western Fish Producer Organisation, said there is concern a “bad deal” or “no deal”, when the transition period ends in January 2021, will be disastrous for the UK fishing industry, which led the march for Brexit. He said: “I don’t want to see fishermen sacrificed for the UK to get a good deal. We want to be part of that good deal. We’re in a situation where we could face a double dose of nightmare with Covid and Brexit and our fishing industry risks being destroyed. >click to read< 17:10
Review Shows Irish Fishing Industry Buoyed By Exports But Brexit & Coronavirus Cast A Shadow
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s latest Annual Review and Outlook for the fisheries sector is a generally positive one, though tempered by the challenges of Brexit and the coronavirus. Published today, Thursday 8 October, the review cites CSO figures for 2019 which put the value of Irish seafood exports at €577 million with increases in the value of both salmon and mackerel, Ireland’s most valuable export catches. The coronavirus pandemic has seen similar challenges experienced across the fisheries and aquaculture sectors over the course of 2020 thus far. “Nonetheless, in spite of the difficulties, the fishing industry has continued to keep food in our shops and on our tables during this extraordinary time,” >click to read< 14:10
Will Britain lose another fishing war?
On average, a fish in the North Sea crosses five territorial waters frontiers every day. They don’t have passports or face quarantine. Britain made a fool of itself during the three cod wars it fought with Iceland between 1956 and 1976. British fishermen decided these were “traditional” waters and the Royal Navy was sent in to try and intimidate the Icelandic fishing boats. Other than geo-thermal energy, banking and airlines, the main Icelandic product is cod. They depended on hauling cod of out the northern waters close to Arctic Circle — we looked absurd trying to stop them. Does a new fish war with France, the Netherlands, and Spain now loom? The problem arises partly from the 1982 UN Law of the Sea convention which extended territorial waters out to 200 km. >click to read< 10:09
Fishermen prepare for the choppy waters of a no deal Brexit
“The French will always be the ones to cause the biggest amount of trouble,” says ‘Crystal Sea’ skipper David Stevens. His family have been trawling for generations and he’s prepared for any wave that hits on January 1st. So will it be a new post Brexit dawn at sea for fishing? Seemingly relaxed about the future he accepts there is trouble on the horizon but predicts a passing storm. We are five hours out of Newlyn in Cornwall, the nets are cast and conversation turns to the weeks ahead. “It was said that fishing would be the litmus test of how far we’ve come out of the EU. I think that is true,” says David. >click to read< 16:49
Brexit fishing breakthrough: Canada’s turbot war with EU sets example for Britain
A ten-year controversy between Ottawa and Brussels involving overfishing and fishing violations by EU vessels from Spain and Portugal in international waters outside Canada’s 200-mile limit only came to a head in 1995. Fishing in those waters is managed by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO). With scientists warning that turbot, the largest remaining commercial fish stock in the Northwest Atlantic, was overfished, NAFO established a total allowable catch and quotas for the 1995 fishing season. >click to read< 09:39
Fishing Rights: Irish fishing group will fight ‘tooth and nail’ against UK quota move
The head of an Irish fishing group has said they will fight “tooth and nail” a move by the UK government to double the catch quota for British fishermen post Brexit. Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation CEO Sean O’Donoghue described the move as “off the wall stuff” and said it will never be accepted by either the EU or Irish government. Fishing rights have become an integral issue of the UK’s Brexit negotiations, with Boris Johnson’s government seeking to have a huge rise in the quota of British vessels in their waters. >click to read< 14:51
Why Brexit will be fishing industry’s salvation
When I am out and about in Grimsby, the most commonly asked question I get is: “When are we going to get our fishing waters back, and are we going to get them back?” I say to my constituents: “Yes, absolutely.” Grimsby’s association with the fishing industry goes back centuries, but the modern industry started in the 1800s. By 1900, 10 per cent of all the fish eaten in the UK was landed in Grimsby. What fishing brought to Grimsby was wealth, investment into the docks and a direct train link to London. That was the power of the fishing industry to us. Unfortunately, that industry has been taken away from us, first because of the cod wars with Iceland, impact of the Common Fisheries Policy,,, By Lia Nici >click to read< 08:20
Brexit fishing victory: UK sector to explode after leaving EU as thousands of jobs created
THE UK Government should ignore the current small percentage of GDP that Britain’s fishing industry accounts for due to the fact it will soar after Brexit according to the Chairman of Lowestoft Fish Market Alliance. The UK’s fishing industry has the potential to grow from around 0.5 percent of Britain’s GDP to 3.5 if zonal attachment is reintroduced after the post-Brexit transition period. Mr Lines added that Britain’s coastal communities will thrive off having a fishery and it may result in thousands of jobs created within the fishing sector. >click to read< 14:00
Stop treating fishing like a second class industry
It is true that fishing represents only a small part of our total economy, but the Government should not undervalue the thousands of jobs fishing creates not just on boats large and small, but in processing, logistics and food service. They are also at risk of ignoring the cultural and historical importance of fishing as part of our maritime heritage and our communities. The creation of this Trade and Agriculture Commission is to be welcomed and the NFU and its supporters congratulated for their successful campaign. >click to read< 10:53
So long and thanks for all the fish: Irish fishermen say UK Brexit position could spell ‘unmitigated disaster’
Although a debate between the UK and EU around immigration has garnered more headlines in recent years, fishing rights are perhaps the most tangible example of why the UK wanted to leave in the first place. Over two-thirds of the EU’s fishing waters, and two-thirds of the EU’s fishing catch, belong to Ireland and the UK. Around half of Ireland’s fishing catch take place in UK waters. Now that the UK is leaving (and, theoretically, taking its waters with it) Ireland’s fishermen and fishing industry are under threat of being locked out of waters that had been frequented by Irish trawlers long before either country joined the EU. >click to read< 23:11
It’s four years since the Brexit vote. Now what?
On the 4th anniversary of Britain’s historic vote, Megan Revell explains where things stand with Brexit. At the time, Boris Johnson stressed there was no rush … Boris Johnson, 2016: “There is now no need for haste …” But now, as Britain’s Prime Minister, he’s under a time crunch. Boris Johnson, 2020: “Put a tiger in the tank (…) the faster we can do this, the better.” Britain officially left the bloc in January – but talks on a trade agreement – remember, one of the biggest issues of the Brexit debate – have made little progress. >click to read< 10:07
Brexit: EU preparing to row back on rights to fish in British waters
Brussels is preparing to back down over a Brexit fishing deal and acknowledge for the first time that European fleets do not have an automatic right to fish in British waters. In a concession to help to unlock negotiations, Michel Barnier is understood to accept that the UK will have to be treated as an independent coastal state and have annual negotiations with the bloc over fishing quotas from next year. The EU’s chief negotiator told European diplomats that the compromise would have to wait until other parts of the deal were closer to being finalised. >click to read< 22:19
Jimmy Buchan warns no-deal Brexit ‘will hurt’ Scottish fishing industry
The warnings come just days after the final round of scheduled talks between London and Brussels broke off, with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier accusing his opposite number, David Frost, of not showing “any true will” to reach a deal. Since the outset of negotiations the EU has demanded “status quo” access to UK waters, which would essentially mean a continuation of the common fisheries policy, something that has been categorically rejected by Boris Johnson. Jimmy Buchan, chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, told the Commons environment committee that, despite the differences, a deal must be done “no question”. >click to read< 16:57
British fishermen should be able to double their catch in UK waters under new deal with EU
The intervention has come as fishing rights look set to dominate the fourth round of talks on a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. The country’s fishermen’s federations said they backed the UK Government’s uncompromising stance in ruling out any extension to the transition period, which ends in December, saying any further delay to leaving the hated Common Fisheries Policy[CFP] would only prolong the uncertainty that the sector had suffered since the 2016 EU referendum. >click to read< 12:48
Boris fires back at EU’s ‘wishful thinking’ amid fears UK ready to surrender on fishing – Boris Johnson’s official spokesman stepped in amid reports of a potential compromise agreement over future access to the UK’s territorial waters. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has signalled he is ready to give ground on his “maximalist” position that calls for the same level of access to UK waters as in the Common Fisheries Policy. The Frenchman could agree to a Norway-style fisheries treaty, with annual negotiations on quota shares and access,,, >click to read<
‘Leave the diplomats out’ and put fishermen in charge of Brexit talks
As the UK and EU teams begin their final round of negotiations this week, Pascal Lamy called for “the politics and legal complexities” to be taken out of the fisheries talks, which are at an impasse. The UK team has accused the EU of not “accepting the reality” that Britain will be an independent coastal state at the end of the year, while the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has rejected UK proposals for annual negotiations on quotas, saying EU fishermen needed “predictability” in the form of continued “status quo” access to UK fishing grounds after Brexit. >click to read< 10:27
Irish fishermen warn of violent clashes with UK boats ‘Give us an agreement! – Irish fishing chiefs have warned of violent clashes with British boats if the European Union fails to reach an agreement for continued access to UK’s fishing waters. Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has claimed the industry would be plagued by thousands of job loses if Irish boats are locked out of the UK’s fishing grounds. >click to read< 10:35
Shetland fishermen against Brexit transition period extension
In the light of the Covid-19 crisis and the deep recession forecast for 2020, Liberal Democrats and the SNP have been lobbying for an additional delay before the UK leaves the EU. But Simon Collins, the SFA’s executive officer, said that as far as he could see there was “not much appetite within the government to extend”, and fishing was a special case anyway. “Whatever decisions are being made for other parts of the economy, for which we can’t speak, as far as fishing is concerned our stance is absolutely clear: we have every intention to push the government to deliver, at least for fishing, that we are an independent coastal state by the end of the year. >click to read< 15:46
Fishing Presents a Vexing Snag in Brexit Talks
In the pitch black of early morning, huge waves hurled the 30-ton vessel from side to side, drenching crewmen who struggled to keep their footing as they cast the trawler’s nets into the swirling seas. But, once back on the bridge, the skipper, Dave Driver was oblivious to the stomach-churning motion of the boat, and dismissive of the perils of his work — even as he recalled once falling overboard and, on another occasion, rescuing two fishermen from drowning. “I’m my own boss, I do what I want, I think it’s the best job in the world,” said Mr. Driver, who left school at age 15, but now owns the 1.2 million pound trawler Girl Debra, named after his wife. He has only one major gripe in life: the French. photo’s, more, >click to read< 14:51
‘Everybody wanted Brexit’, Arbroath’s situation is complex.
“We’re actually fishing creels on traditional whitefish grounds just now,” says John Cargill, discussing his day’s work at sea, one which threw up a decent catch of crabs. “There is no whitefish within 100 miles of here. “There is no point in building a boat to catch haddock when there is not a haddock in 100 miles. That’s my opinion.”,, “Most of the fishermen I know, everybody wanted Brexit,” said Mr Cargill, who started out in the industry in 1982, aged just 16, on the whitefish boats. “It might be a bit sticky on the shellfish to start with if we don’t get a deal but I think it’s worth a gamble instead of being run by the EU.” The 53-year-old said his vote for Brexit was “nothing to do” with his work as a shellfish specialist in Angus and claims he “couldn’t understand” why the UK chose to join the EU in the first place. more, >click to read< 10:52
Will Brexit really bring victory for small scale fishermen or big business?
During the pre-referendum canvassing, Britain’s fishermen were held up by Leave advocates as an example of a ‘homegrown’ industry decimated by what they saw as ‘draconian’ EU regulations. Compliance with the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, (that dictates that member states can’t control their own waters, nor set their own fishing quotas), was, they believed, the reason why. >click to read< 10:13
Brexit at last: Britain leaves the EU as champagne corks fly, Post-Brexit talks gear up for fish fight
The United Kingdom finally cast off from the European Union on Friday for an uncertain future, with Brexiteers claiming victory and popping champagne corks for an “independence day” they said marked a new era for the country.,, On the white cliffs of Dover, the message: “The UK has left the EU” was projected between a British and an EU flag. >click to read< 07:51
Post-Brexit talks gear up for fish fight between EU, UK – When it comes to U.K.-European Union relations, there’s nothing like slapping a fish around. After all, both sides have been contesting who rules their waves practically since the United Kingdom became a member in 1973. >click to read<
One day before Brexit and Breton fishermen fear the worst!
“Cataclysm”, “catastrophe”, “brothel without name” … Breton fishermen are on the warpath with the approach of Brexit, which could deprive them of a large part of their fish resources and create enormous tensions in the English Channel. “A Brexit without agreement for fishermen, it will be a real disaster. Their worst fear: a hard Brexit, without agreement with the United Kingdom, which would prohibit access to British waters overnight. “It would be a cataclysm,” recognizes Olivier Le Nezet, president of the Breton fisheries committee. >click to read< 21:38
Brexit: Why fishing threatens to derail EU-UK trade talks
If Brexit Britain were to close its waters to foreign vessels, the impact would be immediate and severe on fishing communities such as those in Boulogne, adding to the pressures from climate change and warmer seas that fishermen say have driven away the cod and brought in more squid and spider crabs. Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, fanned the flames last week by insisting that the UK will “take back control” and have full jurisdiction over the UK’s “spectacular maritime wealth”. Ensuring that fishing rights do not die with Brexit is a priority for the bloc’s coastal states, not least France, in future relationship negotiations with Britain that will begin in the weeks after the UK leaves the EU on Friday. >click to read< 07:58
