Trade and Cooperation Agreement & Brexit

The promises of exiting the EU as an independent coastal state brought with it the opportunity to rebalance quota shares to reflect the resource in UK waters and to provide for exclusive UK access to territorial waters within the 12-mile limit, allowing for a system of sustainable fisheries governance responsive and flexible to the natural fluctuations of a self-renewing resource. Under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, those goals were not delivered. The EU’s relationship with the UK on fishing rights – especially in relation to access and quota shares – is now in stark contrast with its relationship with Norway, another independent coastal state. Since the 2016 Referendum, the Federation with the support of others, especially Fishmongers Company, has campaigned assiduously to see these goals achieved and we will continue to do so. We will also work to ensure that the implementation of the Fisheries Act and the assembly of the nuts and bolts of the new management regime has fishing communities at its heart.

A fix is urgently needed for implementation delays

4 January 2023

The gulf between what was promised and what was delivered in the December 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement left most in the fishing industry angry and frustrated. What was delivered in terms of additional fishing opportunities and control over access was very far from what any self-respecting coastal state might expect.

Negotiations Approach Endgame

8 December 2021

Five separate strands within the complex intertwined negotiations for fisheries agreements for 2022 are approaching their endgames. There seems to be a determination by all parties to avoid the extended, painful, process witnessed earlier this year which stalled agreements for 2021 until 5 months into the year to which they apply.

Time to Stop Posturing

14 October 2021

A recent event in Lorient, Brittany, provided some insight into the main themes in post-Brexit fishing relations. The seminar mainly involved French fishing industry figures and fisheries administrators, with a smattering of other EU notables and a handful of participants from the UK fishing industry, including the NFFO.

NFFO Demands Transparency over TCA Deal

30 September 2021

The UK fishing industry was shocked at the scale of the UK’s capitulation on fishing on Christmas Eve, 2020. This was a decision made at the highest reaches of Government. And it was made, despite the promises, commitments and assurances made during the Referendum Campaign and throughout the negotiations with the EU. Additional quota shares secured from the EU came nowhere close to what any self-respecting coastal state might expect as their legal right. Access to fish in UK waters – a key bargaining lever in annual fisheries negotiations – was ceded to the EU for 6 years (at least). We even failed to secure an exclusive 12 mile limit, something that most coastal states take for granted.

The Trust Issue

12 August 2021

The NFFO takes stock 8 months after the Trade and Cooperation Agreement

UK-EU Fisheries Agreement: Taking Stock

11 June 2021

The UK and EU have just concluded their first annual bilateral fisheries agreement made under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The negotiations and annual agreement have been heavily shaped and constrained by the limitations imposed by the TCA. The outcomes also reflect the UK’s new legal status as an independent coastal state. The tensions created by these two divergent trajectories go a long way to explaining the shape and content of the deal for 2021.

UK-EU Fisheries Agreement for 2021

7 June 2021

The marathon 5-month negotiation between the UK and the EU for a fisheries agreement for 2021 has concluded with a settlement. Some details on the written record are still being finalised but the Secretary of State for the UK and the Fisheries Commissioner for the EU have both announced agreement in principle.

Jersey

7 May 2021

The blockade of St Helier by French fishing vessels and the somewhat hysterical political over-reaction that has included threats to cut off electricity supplies to the island, will hopefully pass without further escalation, when calmer heads are engaged.

Government Agrees to Second Financial Support Package

21 February 2021

After weeks of lobbying by the NFFO the Government has announced a further tranche of financial support for the fishing industry. An announcement has been made of a rerun of last April’s Fisheries Response Fund under a new heading of Seafood Response Fund, with a number of adjustments and on a UK rather than an England-only basis. The package will draw on the £23 million fund already announced. The NFFO has made the case that if fishing businesses are to survive this extended period of depleted and disrupted markets, over a period then they still face significant fixed costs, then the Government must again step in. The Government has now responded to those concerns.

The Blame Game

18 February 2021

The Herald has published a partial version of the NFFO’s response to ex-MEP Struan Stevenson’s criticisms of the fishing industry. Below we publish the full version.

NFFO Keeps Pressure on for Financial Support

17 February 2021

The NFFO has written again to Secretary of State, George Eustice and Fisheries Minister, Victoria Prentis, for a second trance of financial support for fishing businesses which are struggling to survive.