Like Northern Ireland, the UK left its fishermen behind when it exited the EU

Thanks to the EU, Brexit Britannia does not even rule its own waves

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

How the UK’s control of its territorial waters got lost on the high seas of EU obstinacy

No, in 2020 the UK did not “take back control” of its waters, to the fishermen’s anger. In this report Brexit Facts4EU.Org gives readers some insight into what has happened to the UK’s fishing fleet since Brexit.

Given the iconic status of our fishing industry, its importance to coastal communities, and its significant place in the Brexit debate, we review the control over UK waters and the latest data on the amount of fish landed over the past four years.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), international and national waters are clearly defined. Out to 12 nautical miles (22km) from the baseline, Brexit Britain should be free to set laws, regulate use, and profit from any resource. There is then another zone of 12 nautical miles which allows more limited legal controls by the coastal state.

Finally there is what is known as the ‘Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which extends to 200 nautical miles from the coast. In theory the UK has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources including fish. In practice – because of the EU – this is not currently the case.

A Scottish fishing group speaks out to Facts4EU.Org

One of the many anti-EU fishing groups campaigning for justice is ‘Fishing Forward UK’. Yesterday their spokesman told us :-

“These landing figures produced by the MMO are incomplete it would appear. We keep a log of vessels landing in the northern ports daily and there were 9 Spanish landings in Lochinver in December 2022 according to our records. These figures from the MMO don’t add up really. We need a better way of checking this.”

What did the Government promise?

On 25 July 2019, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, made a statement in the House of Commons and gave the following reply in answer to a specific question on fisheries.

This is not about fish, this is about people and our coastal communities

The fishing agreement between the UK and the EU is very complex. In broad terms the agreement between the UK and the EU involves a reduction in the EU’s catch of only 25% - spread over six years. This means that after 2026 the EU will still have the right to take 75% of the UK’s fish.

We started this report by comparing Northern Ireland being left behind following Brexit, with the UK’s fishing fleet. Below we put the two together.

A fishy tale only Brussels could conceive of

The southernmost town in Northern Ireland is Kilkeel, County Down. Facing out to the Irish Sea, its harbour shelters the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland.

This will happen all over Northern Ireland’s coast

Any Northern Ireland fishing boat from any Northern Ireland port would – if the EU’s Protocol were applied as written – face the same problem. In such circumstances boats would have the option to land their catches at a British mainland port in Scotland such as Campbeltown, Troon or Fleetwood.

For any catch landed at a British mainland port to go to Northern Ireland would require the completion of customs forms countersigned by a vet as an independent witness.

The only reason this chaos has not yet arisen is because the UK Government insisted upon introducing a six-month ‘grace period’ whereby the EU’s Protocol rules would not be applied by the UK authorities. This was against the will of the EU, however, who objected.

At the end of the first six-month grace period the UK Government extended it indefinitely. Nevertheless it remains under the sufferance of the EU’s objections and could yet end up before the EU’s Courts of Justice in Luxembourg.

There is a hard border – it’s a hard sea border

Over centuries, fishing grounds around the islands of Ireland and Great Britain became established and were commonly shared and accessed even though the majority of the island of Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1922. Boats from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland still accessed each other’s waters, irrespective of the EU.

Now, following the Protocol which was introduced to prevent a “hard border” on land, there is a hard sea border between Ireland’s (the EU’s) 6 and 12 mile territorial waters. Northern Ireland boats cannot fish in the Republic of Ireland’s waters and likewise the Irish cannot fish in British waters.

The Northern Ireland fishermen advised the EU and British officials that this would become a problem in what were the traditional fishing grounds. In the typical fashion of technocrats, however, the reality of fishing at sea and all the customs and practices going with it were ignored. Now there is a hard sea border.

[ Sources: UK Government's Marine Management Organisation | Fishing Forward UK | Anglo North Irish Fish Producers Organisation ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 07 Feb 2023

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month