Cod awful

Britain's cod awful fishing fiasco. There is an agreement but this is not enough We need a law to allow UK 'distant fisheries' in Norway water, otherwise it will be the end of distance fishing from Hull. But we can still get our cod - as Norway can continue fishing in North Sea, under their deal with EU, and land in UK.

Trevor Datson, a spokesman for UK Fisheries, said: “There will be no shortage of cod for cod and chips as a result. It will just be that none of the Arctic cod will be caught by British fishermen.” The value to the British economy of the distant fishing business was last estimated at £32 million a year.
Taking back control. Talks with Norway have collapsed The failure to reach a deal means fish and chip shops will be selling Arctic cod imported from Norway rather than landed in Britain. "The giant vessel Kirkella, which normally catches around 10% of all the fish sold in the UK’s chip shops, is now tied up in Hull without any viable long-term opportunities."

Import/Export

Most of the fish we eat we import, most of the fish we catch we export.

Much of UK fishing, the small-scale, ecologically sound shellfish and crustaceans, is dependent on frictionless, overnight trade in fish, with the EU. About 2/3 shellfish, lobsters, crabs and langoustines are sold to the continent.

Fisherfolk were one of the loudest calling for Brexit. There is a strong case to reboot the catch shares first set in 1983. As a result of the climate crisis and other factors, fish no longer swim in the same places they did 37 years ago. Cod and hake have migrated farther north in the North Sea and Atlantic; tuna and anchovies are found in numbers off Cornwall. Some increase in British quotas for mackerel, herring, cod and hake is justified. Removing overnight the livelihoods of hundreds of French, Irish, Dutch and Danish fishermen who have fished these water for decades is not

Any such deal would fall short of the strident demands for a post-Brexit “bonanza”, which is driven mostly by a few, often foreign-owned, fishing companies in England and a dozen or so wealthy families that control fishing in Scotland.

Johnson says Britain will “take back control” of fishing in its “exclusive economic zone” of up to 200 miles from the end of this year. He is prepared to talk about access for EU boats but insists quotas must be “first and foremost” for Britain. The EU says that unless agreement is reached on continued widespread access by the end of July, there will be no favourable trade deal for Britain – on anything.

Shellfish

Shellfish industry is the largest & most important UK fishing industry sector - ministers are concerned that in chasing after reestablishing “control of British fish” - the result is likely to be the destruction of the UK's most profitable seafood industry. It now (Feb 20) seems that UK government is hiding another report - that while EU takes a big % of UK shellfish haul - the UKs position of dominant supplier in this market will be lost in a no deal environment due to the intersection of a number of factors. While UK would face EU tariffs of circa 9% on these shellfish some 3rd country non-EU states have deals to to sell to EU at zero tariffs. This means that the cost would either have to be absorbed by UK fishers or markets lost. DEFRA estimates almost 2000 UK boats (41% of all UK boats) with over 4 000 fishers (that’s over half of fisherman jobs) with over 4 000 additional shellfish industry workers in UK are at severe risk

The EU has agreed some new Trade arrangements with the USA. These include giving freer access to EU of US lobsters. "Fishing News" says shellfish play an important part in UK fisheries exports to the EU.

Fisheries Policy

New EU fishing quotas (Dec 19) promote over-fishing, indicating that progress towards 2020 deadline for sustainable quotas has halted. Fishing groups described it as a 'mixed bag' and that it reinforced need to leave EU Fishing Policy. Total allowable catch for many UK fish was increased - by 25% for monkfish and hake in Western Scotland and 10% for skates and rays in Channel. More on fish

Fisheries Bill published (Jan '20) spells out "access will be for the UK to negotiate in the future and foreign vessels will have to be licensed if they fish in British waters. " Environment Secretary said it will enable the UK "to create a sustainable, profitable fishing industry for our coastal communities, whilst securing the long-term health of British fisheries". Greener UK said there needs to be more detail as to how fishing can be more sustainable.

There's a catch! As Brexiteer Fishing Minister George Eustice said "“When it is said, ‘We are going to take back control’…it sounds perhaps more dramatic than it might be, in that…we would then still engage in international negotiations around mutual access rights, mutual shares and the like”, and that the UK will be bound by “clear commitments…to agree shared TACs" (ie Catches).

French company wins license to monitor British fishing boats.

!!! First of many battles between 'Finance' versus 'Food'.

Fishing policy is likely to be be the source of first UK-EU punch-up. The EU’s trade commissioner has suggested there could be a last-minute trade-off with Brussels offering the City of London access to European markets in return for European fleets retaining their fishing rights in British waters. 6 or 7 countries (inc France & Spain) are demanding to share fish in 'UK waters', and if denied will not ratify UK-EU trade agreement. Fish Wars ahead

Brexit MEP June Mummery at penultimate EU meeting said "“The big question now is, who will be here to hold these people to account while they still control Britain’s waters, but the UK has no representation?” ERR??