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Fishing remains the last hurdle for the EU and UK to reach a wide-ranging post-Brexit trade deal, but the two sides are still very far apart on the issue.
Why is fishing so important?
Fishing should represent little more than sprat in terms of economic importance in the stormy seas that are the negotiations between the EU and the UK on a post-Brexit trade deal, but politically it is a big problem. Fishing accounts for less than 1 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product and even less for the UK, at 0.1 percent of economic output.
But fishing is politically a totemic battle prize: a symbol, to the UK government, that it is, in fact, taking back control, as Brexiters promised, in this case, of its waters, and delivering a Tangible Brexit to fishing communities around the UK. Costas who voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU in the June 2016 referendum.
What is at risk?
The EU and the UK have an interdependent relationship on fisheries. The EU relies on fishing in UK waters in the North Sea, around the Scottish coast and in the seas north of Northern Ireland, for a large part of its catch, while the UK is dependent on markets of the EU to sell the fish, up to 75 percent – which they catch in their own waters. Scallops, squid and prawns caught by English ships in the English Channel and herring and mackerel caught by Scottish ships are shipped overseas, while Britain’s most consumed fish (cod, haddock, tuna and salmon) are matters.
The EU wants to keep access to UK waters after Brexit and a large part of what it catches there, but the UK wants to regain control of access to its own waters for an extended period and avoid fishing quotas in stocks that, he says. It would put your own industry at a disadvantage.
The two sides have been an ocean apart during the negotiations. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, a former French fisheries minister, had suggested that the EU fishing fleet cut its share of what it catches in UK waters by 15-18 per cent, while the negotiator UK’s David Frost had initially wanted to recover 80 per cent of the € 650 million of fish caught by EU vessels, but has since cut it down to 60 per cent.
What’s at stake for Irish fishing boats?
Quite. Irish fishing ports are highly dependent on continued access to UK waters. Approximately 60% of the mackerel landed by Irish trawlers is caught in British seas, north and west of Scotland, while 40% of the Dublin Bay prawns caught by Irish vessels are fished in a known area as “The Smalls” west of the Isles of Scilly off Cornwall on the English coast.
Irish industry has warned that depriving Irish vessels of continued access to these valuable fishing grounds would cause serious economic damage to fishing ports around the Irish coast, from Killybegs in the northwest to Kilmore Quay in the southeast.
About a third of all Irish fishing volumes are caught in British waters, so no trade deal would harm an industry that employs some 16,000 people, including 4,000 people fishing on 2,000 boats. The Irish fishing industry has estimated that it could lose up to 40 percent of its workforce if there is no deal. This would disproportionately affect coastal areas where there is a shortage of other jobs, and would have a great economic impact for the industry of 1.25 billion euros, losing up to half of its value.
How has the Irish industry argued your case?
The Irish have sought protection in the global nature of trade negotiations, pushing the fisheries issue towards a ‘nothing agreed until all agreed’ strategy, where UK demands in other trade areas can be used as lever to ensure a better deal on fishing.
The other significant argument from Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and others in the fishing industry is that “fish knows no borders.” They argue that the fish are migratory assets, essentially stocks shared between the EU and the UK, and should be recognized as such by the British: the fish spawn in the Irish and EU seas and are caught in UK waters.
Irish vessels land mackerel in UK waters in the winter months when their fat content is highest and when they are most in demand, especially from buyers in the Far East. Being forced to catch mackerel at the beginning of the year means that they would be caught and sold at a time when they are smaller and less valuable and there are fewer buyers, which would affect the business of the Irish fishing sector.
Have there been other complications in the conversations?
Yes, quite a few. At one point, the UK had wanted to remove pelagic fish stocks from the post-Brexit trade deal and treat them separately and then in an informal alliance of fishing nations. He had also wanted access to UK waters to be negotiated in the short term, leaving the issue unresolved outside of a trade deal and for the Irish fishing industry to be unable to plan and invest in advance without knowing whether it had continued access to important stocks Of fishes.
A last minute difficulty has arisen in talks where the EU wants to be able to retaliate if, after a period of adjustment, the UK closes access to EU fishing vessels in its waters in the future. Brussels wants the trade deal to include a provision showing how it could react by introducing new barriers to UK trade, particularly in fish products, if it lost the ability to fish in British waters.
Will there be a deal?
It’s hard to say, but the cost of not reaching a deal – giving up a deal in a variety of other business areas – can focus minds in the next few hours and days on the subject of fishing.
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