Advertisement

Brexit: Why has fishing become a linchpin issue for UK/EU talks?

Time is ticking away for the UK and the European Union (EU) to bridge some of their significant differences as the end of the Brexit transition period draws nigh.

Although Britain formally left the EU on 31 January this year it will fully leave the bloc on 31 December 2020. It has just a number of days to seal a wide range of agreements with Brussels, or be forced into a no-deal Brexit.

Fish are pictured on board Newhaven fishing boat 'About Time' after the first trawl of the day, off the south-east coast of England on October 12, 2020. - Trawling the Channel aboard his boat 'About Time', skipper Neil Whitney is hopeful the UK can net a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU that he insists finally favours British fishing. A European Union summit on Thursday and Friday will attempt to unlock stalled talks with London weighed down by a key future fishing agreement. "We want control of our waters, control of our own (fishing) quotas and we have to build a future because at the moment you can't look ahead and try and work out what's going to happen because we've got no control," Whitney told AFP  after setting off in pitch blackness from Newhaven, a port on England's south coast. (Photo by GLYN KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
While fishing plays a small part in the UK and French economies (it makes up 0.1% of the UK economy and employs around 24,000 people), it carries a political weight on both sides of the Channel. Photo: GLYN KIRK /AFP via Getty Images

The UK is still in negotiations with the EU over a number of key points, with the most contentious issues for both sides including fisheries, ensuring fair competition guarantees and ways to solve future disputes. Neither side has been ready to concede on these sticking points.

While fishing plays a small part in the UK and French economies (it makes up 0.1% of the UK economy and employs around 24,000 people), it carries a political weight on both sides of the Channel.

The UK is still bound by the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) until the end of the year, meaning every country in the agreement has full access to each other’s waters (with the exception of the first 12 nautical miles) from the coast.

However, fishermen have limits on the volume of fish they can catch from each species and there are also restrictions on exports.

WATCH: 24 days until the end of the transition period

The UK government is aiming to increase the British fishing quota share as part of the Brexit negotiations. According to the BBC, in England more than half the quota is in foreign hands, with more than 60% of the overall tonnage hauled from British waters caught by foreign boats.

However, the EU has said it wants access to UK fishing grounds for its boats. Brussels has also said that reaching a fair deal on fisheries is a precondition for a free trade agreement with no tariffs or taxes on goods crossing borders.

Due to this fishing has become a linchpin issue for UK/EU talks. Without an agreement on fisheries both sides could walk away from the table without a deal, jeopardising EU and British fishermen.

Outside the EU, the UK will control an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), stretching up to 200 nautical miles into the North Atlantic, whereas inside the UK the exclusive economic zones of member countries are managed jointly as a common resource.

Last week, Britain’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab urged the EU to accept a "point of principle" on fisheries — a key sticking point in reaching an agreement.

However, France had threatened to veto any agreement made if it involved too many concessions from the EU’s side. French president Emmanuel Macron has publicly taken a hard stance on the issue.

READ MORE: Pound plunges as UK threatens to pull out of Brexit talks

Clément Beaune, the French Europe minister, said last Friday: “If there were a deal that isn’t good which in our evaluation doesn’t correspond to those interests, we will oppose it.

“France, like all its partners, has the means of a veto. We must make our own evaluation, of course, of this deal, that’s normal. We owe that to the French people, we owe it to our fishermen and to other economic sectors,” he said.

The comments have heightened fears that the EU has shifted its negotiating position at the 11th hour, diminishing the prospect of a breakthrough for an imminent agreement.

Dutch industry bodies, VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland have also expressed concern about a no-deal agreement.

“It is important for Dutch fisheries that clear agreements are made about fishing rights giving them continued access to British waters,” a VNO-NCW spokesman said.

He added: “It is also important to have clarity at a stroke, rather than an agreement that is revised on a yearly basis. A no-deal Brexit would have huge consequences for Dutch business life.”

The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers notes Britain as one of the Netherlands’ top five trading partners. According to figures by Statistics Netherlands, exported goods and services were worth €28.3bn (£25bn, $34.3bn) in 2019.

Dutch trade credit insurer Euler Hermes Nederland says a no-deal Brexit would cost the country 10.5% of current exports to the UK, worth €4.8bn.

WATCH: What happens if no Brexit trade deal is struck?