December 1, 2020 — The European Union parliament has officially passed a mini trade deal with the U.S. that will see all tariffs on U.S. lobsters dropped for the next five years.
In a vote with 638 affirmative, 45 against, and 11 abstentions, the parliament confirmed that all U.S. lobster imports to the E.U. will no longer be subject to an 8 percent tariff, retroactive to 1 August. The tariffs will be removed for the next five years, and the E.U. will work to make the removal permanent.
November 30, 2020 — The European Union and Britain said on Friday there were still substantial differences over a Brexit trade deal as the EU chief negotiator prepared to travel to London in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexit crisis.
With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are calling on the other to compromise on the three main issues of contention – fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes.
The two sides will shortly resume face-to-face negotiations after they had to be suspended last week when one of EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s team tested positive for COVID-19.
“Clearly there are substantial and important differences still to be bridged but we’re getting on with it,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters.
November 27, 2020 — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the European Union needed to accept the reality that Britain must control access to its waters if the two were to make progress in Brexit talks on fisheries.
“Our position on fish hasn’t changed. We’ll only be able to make progress if the EU accepts the reality that we must be able to control access to our waters and it’s very important at this stage to emphasise that,” he told parliament.
November 24, 2020 — The United Kingdom’s Fisheries Bill has received Royal Assent after 10 months in Parliament, thereby making it the Fisheries Act, the country’s government has confirmed.
Announcing that the Fisheries Act 2020 had passed into law – representing the United Kingdom’s first major domestic fisheries legislation in nearly 40 years – the government said it would now have control over who fishes in its waters through a new foreign vessel licensing regime, and that the current automatic rights for European Union vessels to fish in U.K. waters have ended.
November 23, 2020 — Having secured EUR 2.5 million (USD 3 million) from EU Horizon 2020 – European Innovation Council (EIC) accelerator funding – young U.K.-based carbon recycling biotechnology company Deep Branch is scaling up the development of new proteins for the aqua- and agri-feed sectors, produced from carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from industrial emissions.
Deep Branch’s new “Proton” single-cell protein is created through a fermentation process that uses microbes to convert CO2 into protein. The result is a low carbon feed ingredient with a nutritional profile comparable to fishmeal, which can be produced year-round, and at a price that’s on par with the traditional but finite marine ingredient market, but sporting a lower carbon footprint.
November 20, 2020 — The European Union and Britain have made better progress towards a trade deal in the last few days but there is still a lot of work to do for an agreement to be in place by the end-year deadline, the bloc’s chief executive said on Friday.
Diplomats briefed earlier by the EU’s executive, which is negotiating with Britain on behalf of the 27 member states, said Brussels and London remained at odds over fishing rights, fair competition guarantees and ways to solve future disputes.
However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sounded a more optimistic note on the last-ditch talks at a news conference, pointing to progress on the question of ensuring a level playing field for state aid.
“After difficult weeks with very, very slow progress, now we’ve seen in the last days better progress, more movement on important files. This is good,” she said.
November 18, 2020 — Despite many fishing quotas being significantly increased to facilitate the implementation of the E.U.’s Landing Obligation (LO), also known as the “discard ban,” there has been no decrease in the volume of fish being discarded and no enforcement of the rules, which in turn is providing a platform for overfishing throughout the region and undermining science-based fisheries management decisions, according to a new report.
Compiled by fisheries scientist and FishFix CEO Lisa Borges, and partly funded by the non-governmental organization Our Fish, “The Unintended Impact Of The European Discard Ban,” finds that total allowable catches (TACs) across E.U. fisheries have increased by an average of 36 percent above pre-landing obligation levels annually since 2015, and that this increase climbed even further recently – reaching 50 percent in 2019-2020, including a 60 percent rise for demersal fish species.
November 18, 2020 — A no-deal Brexit could lead to a repeat of the “cod wars” between Britian and Iceland across the EU, an Irish fishing group has warned.
Seán O’Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, said he was hopeful that “common sense” would prevail and Britain and the EU would reach an agreement on fisheries in the coming days.
“We’ve had the Icelandic Cod Wars in the past,” he told The Times. A no-deal Brexit “would be similar to that”.
Mr O’Donoghue said that there could be disputes in the Irish Sea, around the northwest Irish coast near Scotland, in the English Channel where waters are shared with France, and the North Sea, where some waters are shared with Denmark.
November 13, 2020 — A European Union committee has approved a trade deal that would eliminate import duties on Maine lobsters sold to Europe.
The European Parliament’s international trade committee voted 40-2 to approve the deal — which would assist the lobster industry across the United States — on Tuesday. It awaits a vote by the full European Parliament, as well as the more powerful European Council, before it can be enacted.
The trade deal cements an agreement between the EU and the U.S. from August that would decrease European tariffs on American lobster products by 8 percent to 12 percent. In return, the U.S. would reduce tariffs on prepared meals, ceramics, lighters and glassware.
November 12, 2020 — European Union lawmakers have voted in favor of a trade deal that would see the bloc’s tariffs on U.S. lobsters removed.
The approval came via a 40–2 vote by the E.U. parliament’s trade committee, and follows up on a deal struck in August between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan. That deal would remove tariffs of 8 to 20 percent on imports of lobsters to the E.U., while the U.S. would half duties on imports of certain glassware, ceramics, disposable lighters, and prepared meals.