SFF & NFFO & FFL - The Brexit debate heats up!

The NFFO response to the Fisheries White Paper back in July 2018.

The Government has published its long-awaited White Paper on Fisheries. Sustainable Fisheries for Future Generations outlines the Government’s vision for UK fisheries post-Brexit. Unsurprisingly, its headline objectives are those associated with the UK’s future as an independent coastal state outside the Common Fisheries Policy.

See the White Paper here

Priority is given to the pursuit of policies which promote sustainable exploitation of fish stocks. However, the Paper makes clear that the UK will control access over who is permitted to fish in UK waters and under what conditions. Rebalancing quota shares to more closely reflect the fisheries resources located in UK waters is also a top-listed priority.

The Government underlines its commitment to working cooperatively with those countries like Norway and the EU with which it shares fish stocks. However, the paper also makes plain that trade issues and fishing rights and management are separate issues, by international comparison and EU-third country precedent. This is important because the EU has signalled, in its negotiating guidelines, that it will seek to use an EU/UK free trade agreement as leverage to maintain the current asymmetric arrangements on access and fishing opportunities. The scale of those quota distortions, which work systematically to the EU’s advantage and the UK’s disadvantage, is spelt out graphically in an annex to the White Paper.

Comment

Overall, the Government has not been noticeably coherent or cohesive in its preparations for a negotiated Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. On fisheries however, its broad position is clear, cogent, and apparently uncontroversial - within the UK anyway. This White Paper will have required support across Whitehall, and it spells out what the UK wants and expects. This aligns quite closely with what the UK fishing industry wants and expects. The high attendance and level of interest at our recent NFFO lobby day in Parliament confirmed that there will also be very wide support across the parties for the broad approach outlined here.

Doubtless this unity reflects the widespread understanding in and beyond government that the entry terms in 1973 worked systematically and significantly to the detriment of the UK’s fishing interests - and have continued to do so over the intervening forty-five years. The UK’s departure from the EU gives us the long-awaited opportunity to address the distortions that arrived with the CFP.

The Federation has been working closely with Defra since the referendum and has submitted papers on all the policy main areas. It is encouraging, therefore, that our principal objectives are shared in the White Paper. These are:

1. The UK operating sustainable fisheries as an independent coastal state, with quota and access arrangements agreed in the context of annual fisheries agreements

2. Rebalancing quota shares to reflect the resources based in UK waters

3. Control over access to fish in UK waters

4. An adaptive management system tailored to the contours of our fleets

5. Unimpeded trade flows

The White Paper also reflects other industry priorities, including:

⦁ A flexible and adaptive national fisheries policy with the fishing industry closely involved in the design and implementation of policy. The frequency of unintended consequences of policy decisions and the need therefore to for a responsive management system post-CFP appears to be well understood

⦁ That safety considerations should be hard-wired into any new fisheries legislation has been taken on board

⦁ The need for a workable discard ban is emphasised

⦁ The removal of the artificial boundary between the under and over-10metre fleets is flagged

⦁ A measured and step-wise approach to trialling alternatives to quotas where this makes sense, is described

⦁ Producer Organisations will continue to deliver decentralised, tailored quota management in the ports

⦁ Throughout, there is an emphasis on a close partnership between the fishing industry and government

More Work Areas

However, below the headlines setting out the Government’s broad orientation, there remains much to discuss and work on. In particular:

⦁ How to operate a system of devolved responsibilities within an overall UK framework is underdeveloped in the White Paper. Discussions continue and is unlikely that arriving at a satisfactory agreement will be easy or straightforward, given the toxic politics involved.

⦁ Cost recovery before the institutional arrangements are in place to give the industry shared responsibility, as discussed in the White Paper, would be premature, unjustified and very controversial

⦁ Auctioning incoming quota is a new concept with some obvious disadvantages; it will need detailed scrutiny

⦁ The practicalities of a workable system of overage (permitting bycatches to be landed even though quotas are exhausted with a charge to disincentivise targeting) to address the problem of chokes under the landing obligation, will require close attention

⦁ Remote sensing undoubtedly has a future role to play in monitoring fishing activities: the question is how and where and how does it fit into a partnership approach based on trust and confidence?

Summary

On the big-ticket issues, the White Paper is clear and confident. To be sure, the EU27 will seek at every turn to blunt its application but in truth the EU only has one weapon in its armoury and that is the nuclear option of denying the UK a free trade deal unless the UK caves in on fisheries. That would hurt many businesses in the supply chain in the EU - at least as many as in the UK. Politically, such is the parliamentary arithmetic, that the UK government could not agree to a capitulation on fisheries and survive.

It is self-evident that the Government has much work to do on its own positions before the next rounds of negotiations. On fisheries, however, as the White Paper spells out, the big issues relating to jurisdiction, access and quota shares, are already settled by international law: the UK becomes an independent coastal state. Everything else flows from that.

Fishing for Leave however, have an entirely different perspective on Brexit claiming to represent the small-scale fishers who make up around 70% of the UK fleet.


If only so many knew the truth..

For two years Fishing for Leave have bit our lip for the sake of the wider cause of the industry and way of life we are fighting for.

However, after continued misrepresentations and protestations by the Scottish Fishermens Federation (SFF) and National Federation of Fishermens Organisations (NFFO) of their 'speaking for all the industry' we feel we can stay silent no more.

The tipping point is knowledge of discussions of agreements to stay mute on a transition deal, one that would prove disastrous for the majority of Britain's fishing, along with selling the industry a pup in exchange for maintaining the current system beneficial to a few.

The SFF and NFFO have become a corporate racket dominated by a few big quota holders and heavily influenced by EU owned but UK registered 'Flagships'

Rather than fight to replace the system that has ruined British fishing they continually pursued managed decline to a few. The consequence for so many fishermen and communities is heartbreakingly apparent to see.

After twenty years of supine retreat, when the chance to escape the CFP came they wouldn't back Brexit.

Hiding behind 'neutrality' after being ambivalent or hostile to British withdrawal since the 1990s - some heads are on record as having voted remain. Main stream and fishing media archives record all this.

They abandoned the industry they now purport to represent. It was left to the grassroots to initiate and fight under Fishing for Leave .

We alone were instrumental in making fishing one of the 'acid tests', from the Thames flotilla on whilst the NFFO and SFF hid at home.

Rather than come together following the vote, as FFL openly offered at meetings in Aberdeen and Peterhead, the SFF in particular resorted to attack FFL through proxies.

The two federations then did a volte face to control the Brexit dividend for a few and fend off what they saw as a threat by FFL banging the drum to replace a failed system (one with feathered nests for a few) with new British policy that would work for all from big to small.

As the Bible eludes beware wolf in sheep's clothing!

**FFLs repeated warnings that the NFFO and SFF are a cartel of big, mainly foreign interests, dominating the industry for a few to the detriment of the many they claim legitimacy from was vindicated by the Greenpeace Unearthed report.

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/10/11/fishing-quota-uk-defra-michael-gove/amp/

FFL would caution against one element of the Greenpeace report. Not all big are bad, small are good. Some of the biggest companies and Producers Organisation (POs), such as Interfish and Northern Ireland Fish PO back both Brexit and a fair distribution for all - sadly many of their contemporaries who are in the SFF and NFFOs policy is all for one none for all.


WHICH FISHERMEN...?

SO, after two years! of avoiding actual detail it would be great to finally hear exactly how the SFF (and the NFFO) propose allocating their much vaunted simple phrase #seaofopportunity?

1) Will it be through equal shares of repatriated resources to ALL fishers and communities as FFL propose? Or through the disastrous FQA allocation system (which have become the stocks and share unit currency that has made a national resource a corporately traded commodity) driven consolidation to a few, crushed the family fishing and communities the federations virtue signal about seeing revived?

2) Pelagic resources are the main bulk of what Britain regains...do the SFF and NFFO agree with FFL that half should fairly go to the 25 large vessels in the specialist pelagic fleet and half to all other vessels and communities? So as to recreate opportunity of seasonal fisheries and provide an adrenaline hit to struggling vessels and communities?

Why does Mr Armstrong of the SFF continually peddle the lie publicly and in parliament that 40-100ft trawlers cannot pursue pelagic species as they happily manage in Norway and Ireland?

3) The discard ban addresses the discard symptom rather than the quota cause. It is acknowledged as an existential threat to the viability

'Choke species', when vessels have to tie up on exhausting their lowest quota to avoid discarding, will cripple all bar a few of the biggest quota holders.

Why did the SFF, after talks in Downing Street, roll over so easily to a transition where the EU will be free to enforce the 2019 discard ban, bankrupt all bar the biggest quota holders, and then claim the resources we would no longer have the fleet to catch using UNCLOS Article 62.2?

4) Given no credible solution has been found in 8 years to discards or choke species being the result of quotas, why do the SFF and NFFO resolutely want to maintain quotas and the unsolvable discarding that will ruin the majority and leave only a few big players?

5) Why do the SFF and NFFO continually seek to defile the unique, world leading hybrid quota/effort control system FFL have developed to achieve discard free, soak time at sea fisheries. One generating accurate science from all catches being landed, preserving and adopting FQAs and their investment, whilst providing all a limit of time at sea to survive.

If it is doomed to fail why not support a credible trial on 20 vessels to prove it is wrong or, if it works, have a credible alternative for everyone to survive....what's to lose?

6) Why does the SFF continually make representations to government to keep quotas, & worse to keep the FQA share system that drives consolidation to few big corporates? Why are continual governmental assurance also sought for allocating all repatriated resources through the disastrous FQA system too?

7) Is the resistance to not continuing with the same failed system by moving to new better management less to do with environmental and operational concerns and more to do with preserving a quota trough for some prominent members who have their trotters firmly in it?

8 ) How can the NFFO say it speaks for British fishermen, and does the NFFO not have a severe conflict of interests, given that the government FQA register and Companies house show that the majority, around 75%!, of the NFFO membership of POs and their FQAs (and therefore the financial clout) is controlled by EU owned but UK registered 'Flagships'?

9) How can the SFF purport to speak for Scotland's fishermen when many fishermen and associations from Orkney to the Western Isles to Lothian and Fife are not in the SFF; the founding Clyde Fishermen's Association quit due to problems addressed in the questions above; and many are hugely disgruntled at the corporate racket but persist only to obtain the necessity of guard work jobs?

10) Why will the SFF and NFFO not condemn quota renting and 'slipper skippers', who SeaFish statistics show are bleeding 50-60% of the profit for reinvestment from the industry as active vessels have to pay to fish? Do they agree with FFLs position that, slipper skippers should be banned; that entitlement to fish should only be on active vessels; and that the price of swapping entitlement should be capped at 4% of the gross realised for the fish caught by that entitlement?

Quotas have trashed the environment with mass discards and trapped the industry in perpetual data deficiency on actual catches.

Quotas and the now economically prohibitive and illiterate cost of rent and purchase of FQA entitlement units has crippled community and family fishing the federations say you represent and wish to protect.

It has culled recruitment of a next generation to realise a sea of opportunity by barring a career from deck to wheelhouse. All this and yet you both lobby to keep the same failed system reviled by so many fishermen you claim to represent ...why?

We suggest it is for the same reason - preserving the status quo on quota - that stopped the NFFO and SFF backing Brexit.

Until the above Ten questions are honestly answered there is a long gap between actual fishermen and the two federations who purport to represent them.

So the choice is; come together by decrying the failed systems of the past. Say repatriated fish will be distributed to all fairly. That slipper skippers and flagships will be banned and curtailed and that we trial a potentially world leading hybrid refined effort control system that would work and give a future for ALL

...OR will the SFF and NFFO continue trying to preserve a corporate racket of quotas, FQAs discards & slipper skippers for the benefit of a few?

One thing is certain, coastal constituencies will decide on MPs choice of what is listened to... MPs and government can listen to a bright future for all or keeping trotters in the trough for a few...?

Latest info for the fishing industry from today's "No Deal" advice.

Businesses exporting to the EU in a 29 March 2019 ‘no deal’ scenario.

After the UK leaves the EU, in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario, businesses exporting goods to the EU will be required to follow customs procedures in the same way that they currently do when exporting goods to a non-EU country.

Before exporting goods to the EU, a business will need to:

• register for an UK EORI number. You do not need to take action now but you will want to familiarise yourself with this process
• ensure their contracts and International Terms and Conditions of Service (INCOTERMS) reflect that they are now an exporter
• consider how they will submit export declarations, including whether to engage a customs broker, freight forwarder or logistics provider (businesses that want to do this themselves will need to acquire the appropriate software and secure the necessary authorisations from HMRC). Engaging a customs broker or acquiring the appropriate software and authorisations from HMRC will come at a cost.

When exporting goods to the EU, a business will need to:

• have a valid EORI number
• submit an export declaration to HMRC using their software or on-line, or get their customs broker, freight forwarder, or logistics provider to do this for them. The export declaration may need to be lodged in advance so that permission to export is granted before the goods leave the UK (the export declaration also counts as an Exit Summary Declaration – see section 3)
• businesses may also need to apply for an export licence or provide supporting documentation to export specific types of goods from the UK, or to meet the conditions of the relevant customs export procedure.

When exporting duty suspended excise goods to the EU, a business will need to continue to use EMCS to record the duty suspended movement from a UK warehouse or premises to the port of export. Find out more about how to move, store and trade duty-suspended and duty-paid excise goods.

For information on the VAT process for UK businesses exporting goods to the EU please consult the ‘VAT for businesses if there’s no Brexit deal’ technical notice.

Support fishermen called to ensure every Friday is a #FishyFriday in the future!

Andrew Pascoe, chair of The National Fishermen's Federation has put out a plea to all those in and beyond the the fishing industry to demand from the government that there is no sell-out in the process of negotiating an exit from the EU.

Thousands of flags and wheelhouse stickers in fishing ports across the country are delivering the fishing industry’s message to the Government and politicians as the UK/EU withdrawal negotiations edge towards a critical stage. By flying the No Sell-Out flags, thousands of vessels, in dozens of ports around the coast, urge the UK negotiators to stand firm against the EU’s pressure to keep the status quo on access for their fleets and the current unfair quota shares. Cornish fisherman and NFFO Chairman, Andrew Pascoe, in a letter accompanying the flags, spells it out:

“As you will already be aware, we are exerting a huge effort to secure the best outcomes for the UK fishing industry, as the UK leaves the EU.

Meetings have been held and assurances received from the Prime Minister, as well as secretaries of state at Defra and Dexeu, that the UK will become an independent coastal state outside the Common Fisheries Policy, as the UK leaves the EU.

We know that the EU will strongly resist this change and, as part of any withdrawal agreement, will seek to tie the UK back into the current access arrangements and quota shares.

It is extremely important, therefore, that the UK Government stands firm on fishing. To that end we have met with all the main political editors and held a very successful lobby day in Parliament attended by around 50 parliamentarians from right across the political spectrum.

To back up these efforts, we feel that it is important that there is visible support in the ports, and to that end we have produced a large number of flags, banners and stickers to display on your vessels, fish-markets and wheelhouses.

Hopefully, the flags and show of support will be amplified by the media – a picture can tell a story of a 1000 words.

If you require additional flags or stickers, these can be supplied.


Thank you for your support.

Yours

Andrew Pascoe

Chairman

National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisation

20 YEARS BEFORE UK CAN FULLY LEAVE EU COMMON FISHERIES POLICY – BLUE LAUNCHES BREXIT FISHERIES REPORT

BLUE partnered with Fishmongers’ Hall in London to host a seminar for the UK fishing industry to hear from a panel of trade, policy and political experts on the likely outcome of Brexit negotiations for UK fisheries and seafood sectors.

Speakers’ observations included:

• As all EU fisheries law becomes UK law after Brexit, it will likely take around 20 years for all EU law to be changed or removed, if at all.

• While fisheries is a card for the UK to play in negotiations, it is unlikely that it will be played for the benefit of UK fishing. Fisheries will likely be traded to secure better terms for a larger sector of the UK economy.

• All food products (including fish) entering the single market can only enter via specific border inspection posts (BIPs). Calais and Eurotunnel currently have no BIP facilities. If the UK leaves the Single Market, EU countries will have to build BIP facilities. UK food exporters will need the transition period to ensure no interruption to trade while these facilities are prepared.

Speakers included:

Charles Grant (Centre for European Reform)
Sam Lowe (Centre for European Reform)
Maddy Thimont Jack (Institute for Government)
Andrew Oliver (Andrew Jackson Solicitors)
Richard Barnes (University of Hull)
Andrew Kuyk (UK Seafood Industry Alliance)

To download a copy of the report click here.

To see video of all speeches click here.

June 24, 2018 by Blue Marine Foundation

West Country fishermen to support national protest when a fleet of 80 boats will assemble off Plymouth Hoe this Sunday!

BREAKING NEWS

It's been 25 years since West Country fishermen mounted a protest in Plymouth.

80 boats are expected to make a spectacular protest easily visible off Plymouth Hoe - watched by Drake as he played bowls and efied the Spanish Armada.

Fishing for Leave staging mass protests with fishermen
in ports nationwide with Top Torys & Brexiteers.

Fishing for Leave are staging mass protests with fishermen in ports nationwide throughout Sunday Afternoon (8^th April) against the Transition deal that will see the UK obeying 
all EU law including the hated Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

Around 200 vessels set to mobilize in flotillas. The demonstrations will be joined by top Tory MPs and Brexiteers.

These will take place in Whitstable, Hastings, Portsmouth, Milford Haven with the largest turn outs in Newcastle and a flotilla of over 80 vessels massing in Plymouth. (details below)

The flotillas are a regional replication of the infamous Thames flotilla during the referendum. These protests purpose are to show fishermen’s rage and to take our industry’s plight to the public.

This follows the Thames demonstration on the 21^st March where fish were discarded outside Parliament in response to the news that the government had capitulated to including fishing in the transition period – sacrificing fishing to the EU and betraying Britain’s coastal communities a 2^nd time.

Fishing for Leave and other Brexit groups are pushing for the public who are equally sickened by the governments actions to turn out en-mass around harbours to show support, solidarity and defiance and show their revulsion at the transition.

We implore fishermen to get behind support their fishermen and to invite friends, family and fellow Brexiteers to watch and show support.

The Transition is not just a 21month delay but a death sentence for what's left of the British fishing industry.

The UK will officially leave the EU and take back control but then 1second later will hand that control back to the EU. This is because the transition period means obeying all EU law including the disastrous Common Fisheries Policy but with No say or veto.

The EU will be free to enforce and impose detrimental rules on us to cull what's left of the UK fleet.

This would then allow the EU to use international law, UNCLOS Article 62.2, which says if a nation no longer has the capacity to catch its own resources it must give the surplus to its neighbours.

The EU would be free to easily eradicate what is left of our fleet and has every incentive to do so.

The EU can achieve eradication of our fleet using the failed quota system that forces fishermen to discard fish to try to find the species your allowed to keep.

The discard ban addresses the discard symptom not the quota cause. Now, when a vessel exhausts its smallest quota it must stop fishing - this will bankrupt around 60% of the British fleet – this is why we discarded fish outside parliament to highlight this existential crisis.

The EU can abolish the 12mile limit that protects inshore and shell-fishermen.
The EU can also change the EU relative stability quota share outs so the EU gets even more of our resources than the 60% they catch already.

Even worse, since the government has capitulated on an acid test,  Not only will we squander taking back control of a £6-8bn industry for coastal communities but the EU will use the governments weakness to give a rubbish trade deal.

We've been sold out to a worse position for nothing in return.  

Our nations fishing and communities were surrendered to the EU and have suffered immeasurably  through EU mis-management.

The vote to leave was a godsend to our struggling industry and communities. It provided a golden opportunity to automatically repatriate all our waters and resources, worth £6-8 billion, and to start new policy to rejuvenate our coastal communities and industry.

Fishermen are sickened and enraged that our government has capitulated to obeying all EU law after Brexit. Consigning us to remaining trapped in the disastrous CFP until January 2021, and possibly trapped forever in exchange for a deal trade.

The transition is a second betrayal of fishing, of the Brexit vote, of an opportunity and is a second surrender of our communities.

Our communities might not matter to them (politicians) but they matter to us.  Coastal communities count. MPs better remember that and that No deal is better than a bad deal or these flotillas will just be the start.

                             

VESSELS WISHING TO ATTEND

The more support we have the better, please make the effort to join the flotilla or come by land to support with banners and flags at your nearest demo.

We also have 30,000 leaflets to distribute - anyone who wants to help by donning an FFL t-shirt and handing these out please get in touch.

For port contacts for details of all the events below please email: contact@ffl.org.uk and we will pass you on to the appropriate person.

LOCATIONS – TIMES - CONTACTS

Newcastle First – 1000-1500  (30 vessels)
City Marina Pontoon

We ask that you join us in Newcastle on Sunday 8^th April for the flotilla arriving from 12.00hrs onwards. Press will be able to travel upriver from N. Shields by request.

We invite friends, family and fellow Brexiteers to watch the demonstration and show support on Newcastle’s Quayside

09.30 - Muster in North Shields
10.00 – Begin to depart North Shields vessels start to proceed slowly upriver to arrange into line astern.
10.30 – Flotilla fully underway and proceed upstream maintaining speed over ground of 6kts.
12.00 – Arrive Newcastle city centre and pass under Millennium Bridge. – Vessels to berth at pontoon and at North quayside downstream of pontoon (see red line on chart below)
13.30 – Vessels depart Newcastle city centre leaving under Millennium Bridge.
15.00 – Arrive North Shields and vessels berth or disperse to home ports.

                       

Plymouth Largest – 1500 -1800 (80 vessels)
The Hoe – Smeaton’s Tower

We ask that you join us in Plymouth on April the 8th from 15.00hrs onwards. Press will be able to go aboard vessels by request. Press ferry also available.

We invite friends, family and fellow Brexiteers to watch the demonstration and show support on the Hoe or Mount Batten.

15.00 - Muster in Jenny Cliff Bay in SE corner of Plymouth Sound.
16.00 – Begin two anti-clockwise laps of NW/SE rectangular circuit marked by 4 racing buoys (see chart below).
17.00 – Complete 2 laps - Finish North end. Smaller vessels pass through Smeaton Pass. Congregate under the Hoe. Larger vessels to stay south of Shoals within lap circuit (see chart below). 
17.30 – Vessels disperse to their respective ports or enter Sutton Harbour. Larger vessels may berth at Victoria Pier (see chart below) whilst awaiting tide for Sutton Harbour.

                          

Whitstable Last – 1700-2000 (40 vessels – boat to be torched on bonfire)
West Harbour Pier

We ask that you join us at Whitstable on Sunday 8^th April for the flotilla massing off the harbour from 17.00hrs. A whole fishing vessel will be brought ashore and torched to conclude.

1700 - Muster off Whitstable harbour – spread out from harbour entrance west.
1730 – Begin a slow anti-clockwise oval steam from east to west or raft up off harbour (tbc depending on weather)
1900 – Vessels begin to mass close in to harbour entrance stretching west along shore.
19.10 (approx.) – Shore side bonfire with vessel atop to be lit. Sound horns/fireworks.
20.00 – Vessels depart and return to home ports or berth in harbour.

                             

Milford Haven – 1000-1300 (15 vessels)
The Rath Fishermen’s Memorial or Mackerel Quay.

We ask that you join us in Milford Haven on April the 8th from 12.00hrs onwards.

10.00 - Muster to West side of Harbour entrance at Red Cunjic Buoy (Q.R).
10.30 – Begin 3 anti-clockwise laps of East/West 1.5nm oval circuit from Red Cunjic Buoy (Q.R) East to Red Milford Shelf Buoy (FL.R.2.5s).
12.00 – Complete 3 laps - Finish to SW side of Milford Shelf Buoy. Sound Horns/Fireworks/etc.
12.30 – Vessels return to harbour or disperse to their respective ports.

                                 

Portsmouth - 1400-1600 (15 vessels)
Clarence Esplanade War Memorial

We ask that you join us at Portsmouth on Sunday 8^th April for the flotilla massing off the shore from 14.00hrs.

1400 - Muster off Clarence Pier.
1415 – Begin a slow anti-clockwise oval steam from Clarence pier south to fortress.
1530 – Vessels begin to mass towards Clarence pier. Sound horns/fireworks/flares ~ burn EU flags.
16.00 – Vessels depart and return to home ports or berth in harbour.

                     

Hastings - 1600-1800 - (20 vessels)
Pelham Place Car Park

We ask that you join us at Hastings on Sunday 8^th April for the flotilla massing off the shore from 16.00hrs.

1600 - Muster off Hasting harbour pier – spread out from harbour entrance west.
1615 – Begin a slow anti-clockwise oval steam from harbour pier east to Hastings pier in the west.
1730 – Vessels begin to mass towards harbour pier stretching west along shore. Sound horns/fireworks/flares ~ burn EU flags.
18.00 – Vessels depart and return to home ports or berth in harbour.

BANNERS/FLAGS/T-SHIRTS

We have made banner templates that are free to download and send to your nearest banner printer for the size and design you want.
http://www.ffl.org.uk/banners/

If anyone requires a flag or t-shirt we have a small amount left. Please order asap and we will get them sent away next day delivery as late as Friday so you receive them for Saturday.

http://www.ffl.org.uk/shop/

How will UK fleet of 'Flag of Convenience' vessels fair during the Brexit transition period and after Brexit?

Leaving Newlyn after a token landing of fish on the market one day after the Brexit Transition deal with the EU was announced.  The 'English' flag of convenience trawler, Sanamedio makes her way slowly out to sea as the crew stow her deck gear. 

FV Sanamedio leaving Newlyn at high water.

Her AIS track shows her route in, the 12 hours she was stationary in port and then steaming back out West again...

where 24 hours later she was fishing west of the Scillys, south of the Republic of Ireland...

Between them, she and the  UK flagged vessels catch millions of pounds of fish every year, precious little of which is landed directly to UK fishing ports but is transported back to their 'home' (sic) ports mainly in Spain and Holland. Statistically, these vessels, the income they create directly and the subsequent income they generate indirectly and the jobs that they directly and indirectly support are all included in UK GDP figures.

Just how real is this financial loss to UK fishing communities?

The UK missed out from this one vessel alone on the following potential economic benefit had the fish been landed and marketed for onward processing in the UK – and these are all figures based on UK Govternment accepted statistics approved by SEAFISH. Rupert Evelyn covered this story back in October 2017 for ITN News.

In 2015 she declared landings to the value of £1,606,284 of UK Quota Species only)

Of this she declared landings of £89,574 into the UK

Extract from the Sunday Times

From second homes....

This has parallels in Cornwall where, in some villages (like Mousehole) the number of holiday or second homes  is well over 50% and more like 80%. All these properties were once locally owned and then sold, inevitably to the person who paid the highest price and in a capitalist society like ours, without state intervention more often than not that is someone from 'up country'. 

to 'slipper skippers'...

Arguably, where the UK went wrong was when Defra allowed fishermen to sell those licences to fish - inevitably many end up being owned by ever bigger owners and inevitably into the hands of foreign or multinational companies as the right to buy access to fish increases in value and becomes  a tradable commodity in its own right and, as the industry gets to grips fishing sustainably at every level, that value will increase in hugely to match its long-term worth.


What benefit to the UK economy do these boats actually present?

Just one of around 20 boxes of fish landed by the Sanamedio this morning.

The Sanamedio landed enough fish to, approximately, cover the cost of her landing dues. 99% of her catch went straight into the back of a lorry destined for Spain.


Defra helpfully explains all on its website:

The Economic Link

From 1 January 1999 all UK registered fishing vessels over 10 metres in overall length and landing 2 tonnes or more of quota stocks have had to demonstrate an economic link with fishing communities in the UK. This licence condition was introduced to ensure that British coastal communities dependent on fisheries and related industries derived economic benefit from vessels fishing against UK quotas.

The Economic Link is not ‘a loophole’ as has been reported.

While not as visible as a landing into a UK port, each will have had to demonstrate a valid link benefit to the UK from its activity in some form to stay registered. They may have demonstrated this link by:

• Option A: landing at least 50% by weight of the vessel’s catch of quota stocks into the UK
• Option B: employing a crew of whom at least 50% are normally resident in a UK coastal area
• Option C: incurring a significant level of operating expenditure in the UK for goods and services provided in UK coastal areas
• Option D: demonstrating an economic link by other means (including combinations of the above) providing sufficient benefit to populations dependent on fisheries and related industries.

MMO actions relating to vessel ownership

Media which reported on an ‘investigation’ did not check their facts directly with the MMO. The MMO is not carrying out an investigation relating to foreign ownership of UK fishing vessels.

Our fisheries management work includes periodic review of the activities of vessels which take part in the Economic Link scheme.

We also recently wrote to all Fish Producer Organisations to ensure ongoing compliance with regulation (EC) 1379/2013. Fish Producer Organisations were established under the Common Fisheries Policy to enable groups of fishermen to market the fish they catch, and manage their own quota allocations.

The vessel lists published on our website include details of all UK registered fishing vessels and whether they are a member of a PO. Not all fishing vessels are members of POs.

Fish imports and exports

Chapter 4 of our annual fisheries statistics covers trade in fisheries products. The most commonly imported fish from the EU in 2015 was salmon. The most commonly exported fish to EU countries was mackerel.

Other market data may be available from Seafish.

Access by other vessels to UK waters

Historical fishing rights to access UK waters are outlined in a document on the EC website.



Employment and tax issues post Brexit:

When we become a Coastal State after Brexit whenever that may be and extend our offshore limits, will fishermen on foreign vessels require a work permit to fish inside the new British limit. Currently, they require a work permit to work on vessels inside the 12 mile limit or within the 12 miles if they are non EU citizens?

Also, will foreign vessels themselves will technically be fishing in the UK, so will they be liable for paying tax similar to what Amazon, Google and Facebook have been forced to pay even though they will be landing in a different country?

Stop Press! NFFO, SFF and CFPO reaction to Brexit Transition arrangements.

After agreeing on the Brexit transition arrangements there will be many fishermen up and down the length of the UK who find it hard to see what David Davis has to smile about!

Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation's considered response in light of the news does nothing to gladden the hearts of south west fishermen who, like fishermen the length and breadth of the UK signed up for Brexit because Michael Gove, Fisheries Minister and MP for Camborne Redruth, George Eustice and other Tory MPs led us to believe that they would, "Take back control"

“We are still trying to obtain the full picture of what has been or may have been agreed in Brussels. However, on the face of it, it appears that the betrayal that was feared by many has occurred, status quo on fisheries is to be maintained during transition.

Even though the UK is leaving EU and CFP at end of March 2019 the UK Government thinks it is OK to hand back fisheries management to the EU straight away - UK fishermen will still in effect be managed by the discredited CFP and EU regulations until the end of 2021 at the earliest. The danger with agreeing to the EU’s terms is that we would be a coastal state in name only for that period.

To make matters even worse the UK has had to surrendered its vote and its place at the EU negotiating table, a condescending line that UK is to be allowed consultation rights in fisheries decision-making and when EU engages in international fora and negotiations has been cynically inserted to allow some attempt at justification.

Ultimately the fear is that if this approach is adopted i.e. making concessions as part of transitional arrangements it can be expected that similar pressures (and outcomes) will apply when it comes to negotiations later this year on the UK’s long term relationship with the EU. The EU will want to maintain the asymmetric and exploitative relationship that currently exists –it appears that the EU has already secured this for the duration of the transition period without much effort or political capital expended!

Mr. Gove and Mr. Eustice have some explaining to do to fishermen around the UK given the expectations they had raised.”

(Statement from the CFPO March 19th 2018)

Then we have;

Bertie Armstrong, CEO of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation:

‘Far short of an acceptable deal’ – SFF on interim Brexit agreement
Reacting to the agreement for fishing during the implementation period, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation Bertie Armstrong said:

“This falls far short of an acceptable deal. We will leave the EU and leave the CFP, but hand back sovereignty over our seas a few seconds later. Our fishing communities’ fortunes will still be subject to the whim and largesse of the EU for another two years.

“Put simply, we do not trust them to look after us. So we issue this warning to the EU: be careful what you do or the consequences later will be severe. To our politicians we say this: some have tried to secure a better deal but our governments have let us down.

“As a consequence, we expect a written, cast iron guarantee that after the implementation period, sovereignty will mean sovereignty and we will not enter into any deal which gives any other nation or the EU continued rights of access or quota other than those negotiated as part of the annual Coastal States negotiations.”


Then we hear from the NFFO:

The NFFO assesses the recent developments in Brussels

1. We are still trying to obtain the full picture of what has been or may have been agreed in Brussels

2. There will be a lot of concern throughout the fishing industry about what seems to be emerging.

3. We were led to believe that the UK would be as an independent coastal state from March 2019. The Prime Minister told us that only a fortnight ago.

4. This timetable and perhaps much else has been conceded as part of the transition.

5. In fact, under international law the UK will be an independent coastal state from March. But we will immediately tie ourselves into an arrangement with the EU that is worse that we had before – as the UK will not have a seat at the table when the quotas are decided.

6. The UK is to be “consulted” by the EU on setting quotas during the transition period but it is not clear what this would mean:

⦁ Notional “cosmetic” consultation or

⦁ Meaningful participation amounting to agreement (like EU/Norway annual agreement which are styled as consultations)

7. In the meantime the UK’s asymmetrical relationship with the EU on fisheries continues.

8. The UK’s central problem with the CFP has been that EU vessels, in value terms takes 4 times as much out of UK waters as our vessels take out of EU waters. That imbalance – essentially an exploitative relationship - will continue during the transition.

9. The Prime Minister told us that UK would renegotiate quota shares and control access over who fishes in UK waters, and under what conditions. That promise is on hold now and may never materialise.

10. This is being presented as tactical concession that will not prejudice our longer term aims. But it has all the hallmarks of a capitulation.

11. The danger with agreeing to the EU’s terms is that we would be a coastal state in name only

12. But there is also danger in making concessions as part of transitional arrangements because similar pressures will apply when it comes to negotiations, later this year, on the UK’s long term relationship with the EU. The EU, not unnaturally will want to maintain the asymmetric and exploitative relationship that currently exists.

13. In the immediate future, sticking to the existing quota shares (relative stability) during the transition period will cause serious difficulties when the EU landing obligation when it comes fully into force on 1st January 2019.

UK’s Negotiating Position

⦁ UK as an independent coastal state
⦁ Rebalancing of quotas to reflect the resources in our waters
⦁ Control over who fishes in UK waters

EU Negotiating Position

• Status quota on quota shares and access arrangements
• UK has no voting rights during transition
• All CFP rules continue to apply (including new ones over which the UK has no say)

Just over two weeks ago (as mentioned by the NFFO) Teresa May and her ministers were predicting a very different outcome for the industry. This what the Prime Minister said in her Mansion House statement:

First Gove, now Teresa May says the words the fishing industry wants to hear in her Mansion House speech today as an icy wind blasts through the open doors of Newlyn fish market.

Fishing industry transcripts:

"The EU itself is rightly taking a tailored approach in what it is seeking with the UK. For example, on fisheries, the Commission has been clear that no precedents exist for the sort of access it wants from the UK.
We are also leaving the Common Fisheries Policy."

"The UK will regain control over our domestic fisheries management rules and access to our waters.But as part of our economic partnership we will want to continue to work together to manage shared stocks in a sustainable way and to agree reciprocal access to waters and a fairer allocation of fishing opportunities for the UK fishing industry. 

Annotated by Alex BarkerThis is an important promise for the Brexit supporting fishing community. The UK’s share of the catch in UK waters was set sometime in the early 1980s and has barely changed since. Should Britain press hard on this point, the EU may say it will restrict its ability to sell fish products into the EU market. And we will also want to ensure open markets for each other’s products. 

Just as our partnership in goods needs to be deeper than any other Free Trade Agreement, so in services we have the opportunity to break new ground with a broader agreement than ever before. 

We recognise that certain aspects of trade in services are intrinsically linked to the single market and therefore our market access in these areas will need to be different. But we should only allow new barriers to be introduced where absolutely necessary."

Time will tell if the industry has been traded off against much bigger trading assets - again. If ever there was a time for the industry to come together and take control to shape its future it is now.