Agenda item

Brexit: Fisheries Update

Minutes:

Councillor Tudor Evans, OBE (Leader). David Draffan (Service Director for Economic Development) and Rodney Anderson (former DEFRA director of fisheries and marine) presented the Brexit fisheries update. The update summarised the implications of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on Plymouth’s fishing sector.

 

The update highlighted that –

 

(a)

on 30 December 2020 an agreement was entered into between the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community and the UK and Northern Ireland; the UK had become responsible, as an independent sovereign state, for jointly managing about 100 shared fish stocks with the EU; this was unprecedented and unique internationally; additionally the UK would be negotiating access directly with Norway and the Faroes and had signed continuity agreements with both countries;

 

 

(b)

the Agreement provided for -

 

 

 

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the UK to have a larger share of the quotas for about 100 stocks it shared with the EU; UK vessels would be able to catch more fish and EU vessels fewer fish in UK waters;

 

 

 

 

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the increases would be phased in over five years from 2021; the Government had calculated that the total additional value to the UK at the end of this period would be £146m;

 

 

 

 

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the Agreement contained detailed arrangements for setting annually the total allowable catch (TAC) of each of the shared fish stocks subject to quota; in many respects the process was similar to what happened when the UK was within the Common Fisheries Policy, except the UK would be negotiating with the EU as a third country;

 

 

 

 

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until June 2026 the EU and UK would have reciprocal rights of  access to catch the allowable quotas, after which there would be annual negotiations on access;

 

 

 

 

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EU vessels that had a historic track record would be able to continue to fish in the 6nm to 12nm zone of parts of the UK’s territorial waters, almost exclusively in English waters, for at least the next five and a half years and most likely indefinitely;

 

 

 

 

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the UK had reclaimed considerably more policy and regulatory autonomy but this was not unfettered; it had to act in accordance with the objectives and principles and follow the processes set out in the Agreement;

 

 

 

 

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in common with other areas of trade and services, there was to be a joint UK-EU specialised committee that would be able to consider and agree fisheries management issues, data sharing etc; the committee would be co-chaired by the UK and EU with a joint secretariat;

 

 

 

 

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if the UK deviated from the access or quota available to EU vessels under the terms of the Agreement, in the event of dispute, the EU could require the UK to pay compensation and could introduce tariffs, not just on fish products but also other goods and services imported into the EU by the UK; the EC had made it clear that it would seek to protect EU fishing communities.

 

Rodney Anderson (former DEFRA director of fisheries and marine) provided a comprehensive summary of the implications of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on Plymouth’s fishing sector.

 

The following questions were raised –

 

(c)

what were the implications of EU vessels continuing to fish in the 6nm and 12nm zone of parts of the UK’s territorial waters;

 

 

(d)

whether the Government’s funding package of £100m for support for the fishing industrial would make a real difference for the Plymouth’s fishing sector;

 

 

(e)

whether due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, Plymouth’s smaller fishing businesses would remain financially viable.

 

Councillor Tudor Evans, OBE (Leader) thanked Rodney Anderson (former DEFRA director of fisheries and marine) for his valuable contribution to this matter.

Supporting documents: