National Federation: Brexit transition humiliating for fishermen
Staff Writer |
The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) has claimed the Brexit transition arrangement has “patently humiliating and disadvantageous terms on fishing” for the UK.
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Referring to the recently agreed transition agreement, which applies from the UK’s EU exit date of 29 March 2019 and will see quotas and access rights continue and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules remain, NFFO said the deal means the UK fishing sector will be excluded from crucial decisions.
NFFO said: “Holding the Prime Minister and her government to account” on a commitment to leaving the CFP and rebalancing quota shares, “which will shape the future of fishing for decades ahead, will be the focus of the main UK fishing organisations and their allies in Parliament, over the next few critical months.”
When the UK leaves the EU, it will become an independent coastal state under international law and the UN Law of the Sea will provide fisheries management rights but NFFO stressed: “There is no escaping, however, that the transitional agreement is a reverse and a humiliation for the UK on fishing.
“Annual decisions on quotas will be made next year by the EU with only a notional obligation to consult the UK, although much of the fish will be caught in UK waters and the UK is, by far, the largest net contributor to the pot of resources.
“Decisions made with the UK outside the room will apply to the UK, in their entirety, for the period of the transition.”
NFFO said a major concern in fishing ports will be that following final negotiations, which must be completed by the end of October this year, the UK will be faced with terms favouring the EU or an abrupt exit, as it believes it did with this most recent arrangement, and “with the same outcome for fishing, as the price that the EU will seek to extract for a preferential trade deal.” ■
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