3 yıl önce

EU, UK reach agreement on post-Brexit fish quotas

The agreement will ensure a strong balance that will benefit "both our fishing industry and the protection of our marine environment," British fisheries minister Victoria Prentis said.

Reuters

It is Britain's first post-Brexit fishing deal with the EU since most of the bloc's rules ceased to apply to it in January this year.

The EU and Britain have agreed on post-Brexit quotas for shared fish stocks, overcoming disagreement that simmered against a separate UK-France feud over fishing boat licenses.

"We have an agreement with Britain on fishing opportunities for 2022," EU fishing commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius tweeted on Wednesday.

Britain also welcomed the agreement, a statement from fisheries minister Victoria Prentis saying it "ensures a strong balance that will benefit both our fishing industry and the protection of our marine environment". 

The deal, struck on Tuesday, "covers all shared and jointly managed fisheries in EU-British waters and is based on the best available scientific advice," he said.

Just last week, Sinkevicius had said that no agreement had been reached with Britain "despite our best efforts" and therefore the EU was forced to provisionally apply catch limits based on 2021 hauls in shared waters.

Under the agreement, which covers 2022, both countries can fish up to 30,000 tonnes of demersal, or deep-water stocks, and 17,000 tonnes of herring in the waters of the other.

Britain will also be allowed to fish up to 6,550 tonnes of cod around Svalbard, in the Barents Sea, the scene of past fishing disputes between the two countries.

First post-Brexit fishing deal

It was Britain's first post-Brexit fishing deal with the EU since most of the bloc's rules ceased to apply to it in January this year.

Under a trade and cooperation accord setting out post-Brexit relations, Brussels and London have to negotiate annual fish quotas, with an eye to ensuring sustainability of stocks.

The EU-British agreement was reached the same day Britain signed a separate fish-quota deal with Norway, a non-EU country that also negotiates with Brussels on shared stocks.

"Unsustainable agreement"

NGOs slammed the agreement by both sides as unsustainable.

"Just like in pre-Brexit times, they have continued to prioritise short-term commercial interests over long-term sustainability for both fish and fishers – perpetuating the dire state of these depleted stocks," one, ClientEarth, said in a statement.

While the quota issue has been settled, the UK-French row over post-Brexit licences for fishing boats plying waters of Britain and its Channel dependencies rumbles on.

Britain has been begrudgingly giving many of the boat licences demanded by France and the European Commission.

But French fishermen say that dozens are still outstanding and Paris has asked Brussels to begin litigation against London.

SOURCE: AFP