May 3, 2021 — The bilateral fisheries agreement negotiations between Norway and the United Kingdom that ended with no deal reached between the two nations on Thursday, 29 April has sparked uproar in the regional seafood industry.
While both sides said that they worked hard to secure a deal, the countries said their positions continued to be too far apart to reach an agreement for 2021. Talks had been ongoing since January.
January 2, 2019 — The United Kingdom’s fishing industry faces a “grave” threat from a new European Union policy due to be introduced on Tuesday, a House of Lords committee warned after hearing evidence on how fishing quotas will be enforced.
The new rules alter how discarded fish affect the quotas for each species. In the past, fish that were discarded would not count towards the total haul by crews. The new regulations mean that fishers must bring back their total haul, in a measure designed to reduce waste caused by dumping dead but unwanted fish.
Barrie Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, described the rules, which will be phased in over a four year period, as “badly designed.”
According to evidence presented to the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment sub-committee, crews could reach their quotas for each year much earlier than before. That would mean they would have to stop their fishing until quotas were renewed.
September 12, 2017 — France’s busiest port, Boulougne-sur-Mer, sits just across the English Channel from Britain, in the Calais region.
Seagulls glide above scores of brightly painted boats docking to unload the catch of the day — mainly sole but also cod, roussette, crab and scallops.
It’s all sold at a bustling seaside market where Marie-Laure Fontaine sells seafood from a fishing boat called Providence.
“Sole and cod and turbot, we get these all from British waters,” Fontaine says. “And this is a worry.”
Up to 80 percent of fish caught by fishermen here comes from British waters, which are about a two-hour boat ride away.
French fishermen have been nervous since Britain voted to leave the European Union last year. That’s because when the divorce is final, the U.K. will also leave what’s called the Common Fisheries Policy.
“After that, the U.K. will be an independent coastal state, like Norway or the Faroe Islands or Iceland,” says Barrie Deas, chief executive of the U.K.’s National Federation Fishermen’s Organisations. “The U.K. will determine its own fishing quotas and access arrangements. So I think it’s realistic for the French to be worried.”
November 30, 2016 — The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) and the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) have come to an agreement upon common principles for which they will jointly negotiate in upcoming talks on the terms of the United Kingdom’s separation from the European Union, also known as Brexit.
Following a meeting on 25 November in Edinburgh, Scotland, the two groups agreed on key outcomes they would like to achieve “to ensure the best possible deal for coastal communities in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations,” according to a press release.
“We see the UK’s departure from the E.U. and therefore the [Common Fisheries Policy] as an opportunity to address the distortions that were built into the CFP from its inception,” said Barrie Deas, chief executive of the NFFO, which represents a broad section of fishermen across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. “The U.K. industry is united that this is a once in a generation opportunity to put things right.”
Both organizations regard Brexit as an “historic opportunity,” as the U.K. regains full control of its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
At the meeting between the two federations, the two organizations agreed to fight against any roll-over of the current Common Fisheries Policy and against negotiations that entangle fisheries issues other matters not related to fishing.