CFPO news - Southwest fishing industry suffers a £2 million loss as a result of poor EU-UK negotiations

Despite the UK government announcing a £34 million increase in fishing opportunities based on this year's EU-UK annual negotiations, the reality for the southwest is a loss of over £2 million worth of fishing opportunities totalling 451 tonnes of key commercial stocks, as well as a massive blunder on Spurdog.

With annual negotiations results coming down to the wire again, the UK published the agreed Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and UK quota shares on Tuesday this week. Cornish fishermen have now raised serious concerns with the results and the continuous loss of fishing opportunities in the southwest. Cuts in Pollack, Sole, Plaice and Haddock will undoubtedly prove a challenge in what continue to be testing times since Brexit.

While respecting the scientific advice that goes some way to making these decisions, huge swings in TACs will see a 77% reduction for Plaice in the Bristol Channel and over a 20% reduction for Sole in the English Channel, all of which makes no logical sense given that these are annual negotiations. Surely there should be a focus on better managing our fish stocks to only need a maximum change of 20% either way? In other cases such as Pollack, commercial landings data have been down partly due to restricted access to the French markets, where traditionally, pre-Brexit, boats would have landed significant volumes. Limited overseas market opportunities have led to a reduction in catches, and as a result, our Government applied a use-it-or-lose-it scenario and cut the TAC by 20%, which is simply ridiculous. If stocks are not being caught, this shouldn't be a driver for making reductions.

Although not the crux of high-value species, one of this year's biggest blunders by the UK government is the failure to match the EU and open the Spurdog fishery as of the 1st of January 2023. Despite a number of Cornish Fish Producer Organisation member vessels being the only ones to work with the Government on recording and reporting precious data on Spurdog for the last decade, which has enhanced understanding of the stock and led to a positive shift in scientific evidence, it's now apparent that the EU will begin fishing in just ten days, whilst the UK will watch from the other side of the median line waiting for our Government go through a laborious red tape process for the next six months. Of course, this doesn't mean we won't still be catching Spurdog, it will remain part of the mixed fishery and an unavoidable bycatch, so we will simply have to carry on wastefully discarding perfectly good food whilst the French, Irish and Belgians take advantage of decades worth of hard graft and dedication from the Cornish fleet.

Monkfish, Hake and Megrim have seen more positive outcomes of this year's negotiations, all receiving slight TAC increases. In addition, an improvement in the scientific assessment of Bass stocks has led to a very slight increase in opportunity, which will come into effect later in the year as it is subject to a statutory instrument process.

Whilst this year's negotiations outcomes further compound what have been challenging times, it will not break the passion and dedication of Cornish fishermen who will make the best of any situation and will find a way forward. However, the UK Government must not be allowed to continue letting down fishing communities in the southwest and claim they are acting in the best interest of fishermen when that is clearly not true. Pre and post-Brexit warm words and empty promises have not been backed up by action and delivery for fishermen. The relationship between UK Government, DEFRA and fishermen in the southwest will continue to decline as political convenience and lack of understanding dominate decision-making.

Defra announces EU fishing deal to increase fishing opportunities to £750m The deal will present UK fishing with opportunities worth over £280m in 2023

Defra has announced the UK fishing industry will benefit from 140,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities next year, following the conclusion of negotiations with the EU.

The deal, announced yesterday, represented a 30,000-tonne increase on pre-Brexit volumes and would present UK boats with opportunities worth over £280m in 2023 in EU waters.

This brought the total value of fishing opportunities secured for the UK fleet in 2023 in the three main negotiation forums to £750m, a £34m increase from last year, Defra said.

The UK and EU agreed catch levels for 69 fish stocks including North Sea nephrops (£54m), anglerfish (£31m) and western hake (£25m).

The agreement has also committed the UK and EU to working together to provide more sustainable fisheries management.

“Our agreement with the EU secures valuable fishing opportunities for the UK fishing industry while cementing our joint commitment to manage fisheries sustainably,” commented fisheries minister Mark Spencer. “These decisions are based on the latest scientific advice to help protect key fish stocks with the long-term health of the marine environment at the forefront of our minds.”

However, the agreements have been criticised by ClientEarth, an environmental law charity, which said both the EU and UK had “refused to follow scientific advice” that Irish Sea whiting, Celtic Sea cod and west of Scotland cod should not be caught at all.

“The EU-UK deal is a small step in the right direction, but nowhere near enough to bring depleted cod and whiting stocks back from the brink,” said Jenni Grossmann, ClientEarth fisheries science and policy advisor. “They are the collateral victims of unselective trawls that are sweeping up pretty much everything in their path while trying to catch species like Norway lobster and haddock.

“Despite all proclaimed ambitions at COP15 to protect biodiversity, today’s deal means that genuinely sustainable fishing across the board remains a pipe dream for both the EU and the UK,” she added.

The deal follows an agreement on 9 December between the UK, EU and Norway on six North Sea fish stocks including cod, haddock and herring, worth £202m to the UK fishing industry and a further £11m in stocks in other waters around the UK.

In the same week, the UK secured catch limits worth a further £256m with the North East Atlantic coastal states, while an agreement with Norway last month will enable the UK fishing industry to benefit from opportunities worth £5m in 2023.

“We are backing the fishing industry across the country to succeed, with a landmark £100m investment in infrastructure, skills and better scientific data so that our fishing industry thrives for generations to come,” Spencer added.

Read on for more reaction from the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation

 

After weeks of EU-UK negotiations, the 2023 catch limits have now been agreed. The outcomes are particularly frustrating for southwest fishermen with a loss of over £2 mil worth of fishing opportunities. More challenging times are ahead - and it is not reat reading for many South West skippers!