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The UK fisheries sector will face immediate difficulties and lasting damage under the new European Union deal, industry leaders and boat owners have said.
There is outrage that the “marginal” gains in the proportion of fish that the UK fleet will be able to catch may be outweighed by the end of the “quota swap” system, which has so far allowed deals to be made between vessels. British and their continental European counterparts.
Many fishermen, especially those on the south coast of England, are also furious that EU boats will be able to work as far as six miles off the British coast.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Monday that the deal the UK had reached with the EU was the “best possible deal” for the fishing industry as a whole.
Gove also said that a “major financing package” for the sector would be announced in the “very near future” to help it make the most of Brexit.
Writing in the Scotsman, Gove argued that British fishermen today have the right to about half of the fish in the country’s waters, but by 2026 this would increase to two-thirds.
But the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations (NFFO) claimed the gains were marginal. Speaking after Gove’s comments, NFFO Executive Director Barrie Deas said there was a growing sense of disappointment and frustration in the industry.
He said: “There have been some marginal changes in the quotas, but we are bound by an agreement that gives the EU fleet access to our waters up to the six-mile limit. We thought an exclusive 12 mile limit was an absolute red line for the UK. That has not been maintained. “
The NFFO said that for now, the UK’s share of some stocks was only increasing slightly: from 10% to 20% for Celtic Sea haddock, for example, while North Sea saithe (coley) was up from 23%. % to 26%.
Andrew Locker, director of the family-owned Lockers Trawlers, which operates two fishing boats at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, said that 2021 would be a challenge for many of those working in the North Sea because the quota exchange system was being lost.
“I don’t know how the hell we’re going to get through 2021,” he said. “We used to exchange the quota that we did not want with the quota that the French or the Germans did not want and that allowed us to draw up an annual fishing plan.
“This year we are going to be very short on the amount of saithe, hake and cod that we can catch. I am angry, disappointed and betrayed. “
Elspeth Macdonald, executive director of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said she did not believe the agreement would deliver as promised.
She said: “The principles that the government said it supported – control over access, shared quotas based on the zonal link, annual negotiations – do not appear to be central to the agreement. After all the promises made to the industry, that’s hugely disappointing. “
There are also concerns about the export of fish from the UK to continental Europe. Tavish Scott, Executive Director of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organization, said: “Brexit means that the Scottish salmon industry now faces the reality of a lot more red tape, red tape and paperwork than are the reality of additional trade barriers.”
Irish fishing groups condemned the Brexit deal as a serious setback. “The deal is a really bad fish deal for Ireland,” said Seán O’Donoghue, executive director of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organization, one of the largest groups in the industry.
He said the terms seemed “even worse” than they first appeared last week when the organization issued a harsh condemnation of the deal’s impact, especially on mackerel fishing.
Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin met representatives of fisheries organizations on Monday afternoon. Martin acknowledged the severe impact the outcome of the Brexit negotiations would have on the Irish fishing industry and said a “comprehensive plan” would be developed to address their concerns.
