The European Parliament’s fisheries committee says in a note on the impact of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU that Brexit will affect fisheries in several zones and will have “direct repercussions on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) for both sides”.
The note was drafted for the meeting of the chairs of the Parliamentary committees and will, like the notes from the other committees, inform the report which Parliament is preparing on Brexit.
The UK’s exit from the EU will affect fisheries in ICES zones IIa, IVa-b-c, Vb, VIa-b, VIIa-d-e-f-g-h-j and will have a direct impact on the CFP for both the EU and the United Kingdom. Fishermen from many countries operate in British waters. A Community source has told EUROPE that “there is serious concern and with good reason, since fishing will be one of the sectors most affected by Brexit” (see EUROPE 11645).
The rights of British fishermen to access and fish in certain waters of member states and the rights of the fishermen from a number of member states (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Ireland) to fish in British waters, based on so-called “historic rights”, are laid down in Annex 1 and Article 5 of Regulation 1380/2013 on the common fisheries policy. Other bilateral agreements exist, such as the “voisinage agreement” between Ireland and the United Kingdom. “Historic fishing rights may only be marginally changed by an exit of the UK from the EU; however, due to the ambiguous legal situation no conclusive statement can be made at this stage”, the note states.
The fisheries committee highlights, too, the legislative acts that will be affected by Brexit: - technical measures (an issue under negotiation); - the multiannual management plan for demersal stocks in the North Sea (issue under negotiation); - management of the EU’s external fishing fleet (issue under negotiation); - management plan for demersal stocks in north-western EU waters (the Commission is due to bring forward a proposal on this issue). In addition, the United Kingdom is involved in several other management plans that have already been put into operation (for cod, sole and plaice in the North Sea, for northern hake, for sole in the Western Channel, for herring West of Scotland and for eel recovery).
Exit agreement. The fisheries committee says that, for existing historic fishing rights to be respected, the exit agreement, should include: - reciprocal access for the EU and UK fleets to the fishing grounds in UK and EU waters; - a regulation on total allowable catches for the year that the UK exit takes effect; - no increase on the part of the UK in fishing opportunities for jointly managed stocks (maintaining the current quota distribution in UK and EU waters); - granting the UK access to the European market only on the above conditions and granting EU fishermen reciprocal access to the UK market (were the UK to leave the customs union, there will, in principle, be tariffs on UK fish sold in the EU and vice versa); - provisions affecting the UK share of sustainable fisheries partnership agreements with third countries; - ensuring the maintenance of the same legal conditions for UK-registered vessels, without requiring stronger economic links that could make it virtually impossible for EU vessel owners managing UK flagged vessels to continue operating in the UK.
Lastly, the agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom could, the note says, contain provisions on: - governance; - fisheries management (reciprocal access to waters and cooperation on managing stocks by means of total allowable catches); - control measures, port access and landings; - technical measures, data collection; - protection of investments.
See: http://bit.ly/2lxlCCV (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)