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Parliamentarians have been encouraged to endorse flagship Brexit legislation that will implement controls on foreign vessels seeking access to UK fishing waters. Environment Secretary George Eustice said the Fisheries Act gives the UK the opportunity to correct “deficiencies” in the EU-led approach to fishing for “the first time in almost half a century”. It comes when the chances of a Brexit deal between the UK and the EU seem “unlikely,” according to Brussels chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
He told Commons: “Overall, the UK fishing industry currently has access to almost half of the fishing opportunities found in our own waters and that cannot be correct.
“The bill before the House today gives the UK the powers it needs to chart a new course as an independent coastal state. It gives us the powers we need to implement the approach we outlined in our Fisheries White Paper published in 2018 “.
Eustice said the legislation outlines the scientific and environmental principles that will guide future policy, adding to the Commons: “The bill also gives us the power to control the access of individual foreign vessels in our exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“This includes the power to stipulate through a boat license, in the first place, in which EEZ a boat can fish, when it can fish there, what fish it can catch while it is there, and what kind of gear it can or cannot use. .
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“The ability to control and manage access to our waters will be essential to ensure that a fairer sharing agreement prevails in the future.”
Vice President Nigel Evans confirmed the SNP’s amendment to reject the bill on a second reading before it is “clear what kind of deal” will be made with the EU after the end of the transition period has been selected for consideration. .
Shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard said the bill doesn’t offer the “coastal renaissance” it should have.
He said: “Fishing is an area of politics where, until now, snippets of sound have often triumphed over substance and where dogma has often prevailed over details.
“That must end now because fishermen in our coastal communities cannot feed their families with fragments and vague government promises.”
The SNP and Plaid Cymru have tabled an amendment refusing to give a second reading to the Fisheries Bill until it is clearer what a trade deal between the UK and the EU would look like.
SNP environmental spokesperson Deidre Brock told MPs: “We still have no idea what the deal with the EU will look like and we still have no idea what the seascape will be in which the fishing companies will have to operate.
“There is still no clarity. That agreement is not going to be good for the fishing communities.
“They remember that a previous conservative government sold them in the negotiations on Europe and now they fear that the new generation of conservatives will do exactly the same.”
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