GOVE LAUNCHES FISHERIES BILL TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF UK WATERS

GOVE LAUNCHES FISHERIES BILL TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF UK WATERS

Camborne (Cornwall) MP for Fishing, George Eustice spoke on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning before the Fisheries Bill was published.




Whatever Defra or the Government says, of all UK fisherman, it is the inshore Under 10m fishermen (who make up over 80% of the workforce) who will most likely to feel the consequences of Brexit and the new Fisheries Bill - and yet, even their collectively fishing effort, which was mostly never taken into account, has little consequence on the overall state of NE Atlantic ICES areas fish stocks.


Defra posted this summary of the Bill:

• The Fisheries Bill is a major milestone in delivering our promise to take back control of our waters, so that we decide who may fish in our waters and on what terms
• It creates the powers to build a sustainable and profitable fishing industry, in the best interests of the whole UK and future generations
• The Bill delivers a Green Brexit by extending powers to protect and enhance our precious marine environment
• Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland to get more decision powers than ever before

Legislation creating the powers the UK needs to operate as an independent coastal state after leaving the EU is being introduced into Parliament today (25 October 2018).

For the first time since 1973, the Fisheries Bill will enable the UK to control who may fish in our waters and on what terms.

The Bill also gives the UK the power to implement new deals negotiated with the EU and with other coastal States and manage fisheries more effectively and sustainably in future.

At its heart the Bill delivers on the UK government’s commitment to sustainable fishing and marine conservation as set out in the 25-Year Environment Plan by:

• Controlling access – by ending current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters. In future, access to fish in UK waters will be a matter for the UK to negotiate and we will decide on the terms – foreign vessels would have to follow our rules. These negotiations with the EU are continuing and the Bill will provide us with the powers to implement the agreement
• Setting fishing opportunities – by proposing powers to ensure that the UK can set its own fishing quota and days at sea, which it will negotiate as an independent coastal State. As now, the UK government will consult the Devolved Administrations.
• Protecting the marine environment – by ensuring fisheries management decisions are taken strategically for the benefit of the whole marine environment. The Bill extends powers to the Marine Management Organisation and the Devolved Administrations to protect our seas.

The new legislation also proposes ways in which the UK government and the Devolved Administrations will work together to adopt common approaches to fisheries management in certain areas - including preserving UK vessels’ right to fish across the four zones of UK waters and creating a consistent approach to managing access of foreign vessels. The four fisheries Administrations will set out in a joint statement how they will work together to achieve the Bill’s sustainability objectives.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove said:

“This new Fisheries Bill will allow us to create a sustainable, profitable fishing industry for all of the UK. It will regenerate coastal communities, take back control of our waters and, through better conservation measures, allow our precious marine environment to thrive.

“The Common Fisheries Policy has damaged the UK’s fishing industry and our precious fish stocks. The Bill will deliver a sustainable fishing industry, with healthy seas and a fair deal for UK fishermen.”

The Bill also provides powers to reform fisheries rules. To ensure legal continuity, the EU (Withdrawal) Act transferred CFP rules into UK law. This Bill allows government to amend fisheries legislation to respond to scientific advice and innovation quickly - something the CFP failed to do - and to meet our international obligations.

In addition, the Fisheries Bill introduces powers to create new schemes in England to help seize the opportunities of Brexit. These include:

• a new scheme to help the fishing industry comply with the landing obligation to end the wasteful discarding of fish, and
• powers to tender additional English quota

Brexit update: Fisheries Negotiations

Following Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. It will become an independent coastal state and be fully responsible for managing fisheries in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles.

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This will include setting total allowable catches (TACs), distributing quotas and determining who has access to fisheries.[1] However, access for EU vessels to UK waters and vice versa is likely to be part of any agreement reached with the EU, as part of a future relationship.The Fisheries White Paper Sustainable fisheries for future generations, published in July 2018, set out the Government’s intention to continue to co-operate closely with the EU and other coastal states on the sustainable management of fish stocks that cross borders, and states that “any decisions about giving access to our waters for vessels from the EU, or any other coastal states including Norway, will then be a matter for negotiation”.[2]

Brexit negotiations

As part of the Draft Withdrawal Agreement UK and EU have agreed there will be a transition or implementation period which will last from 30 March 2019 to 31 December 2020, during which the UK and EU have agreed that the UK will continue comply with the Common Fisheries Policy.

Beyond the transition period, the maintenance of current arrangements for sharing fisheries resources after Brexit was referred to in the European Council’s draft negotiating guidelines for a future trade deal. This linked continued existing reciprocal access to fisheries to the proposal for a zero-tariff trade agreement. However, the UK Government’s Fisheries White Paper rejected the EU’s position that access to fisheries should be linked to any trade agreement, referring to the latter as “a separate question”. There have been no detailed discussions to date between the UK and the EU on fisheries.[3]

No deal and fisheries

A no deal Brexit, in which there was no transitional agreement on fisheries until the end of 2020, would mean that the UK would become an independent coastal state from March 2019 taking over responsibility for its Exclusive Economic Zone. The UK would no longer be bound by the Common Fisheries Policy and could deny access to EU Member States’ fishing vessels.

UK exports in fish and related products to the EU were worth £1.3 billion and comprised 70% of all UK fish exports from the UK by value. Fish imports from the EU were worth £1.1 billion (34% of all fish imports to the UK by value).[4] The impact of a no deal Brexit on the fisheries industry’s ability to export and trade are likely to be felt across the sector. In addition to the impacts of any tariffs, fisheries products, as all perishable products, could be impacted by any increased delays at borders resulting from greater custom controls.

The EU Commission published a preparedness notice to stakeholders on Fisheries and Aquaculture in April 2018, setting out how UK withdrawal would impact both the UK and EU sectors in the absence of any kind of withdrawal agreement. The UK Government is also expected to publish a Technical Notice on fisheries in September.

[1]     Article 61(1) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) states that: “The coastal State shall determine the allowable catch of the living resources in its exclusive economic zone.”

[2]     Defra, Fisheries White Paper Sustainable fisheries for future generations, published July 2018

[3]     EFRA Select Committee Evidence Session, 17 July 2018, Fisheries, Q403

[4]     UK Trade Info database, downloaded in April 2018, using product code SITC 03 – ‘Fish, crustaceans, molluscs & aq. inverts & preps thereof’

Commons Briefing papers CBP-8396

Author: Elena Ares

Topics: EU external relations, EU institutions, EU law and treaties, Fisheries, Food, Marine environment

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Fisheries: Brexit Negotiations (  PDF, 193.16 KB)