The EU Council of Ministers approved without debate on Friday 11 June the ‘Specific Elements of the EU Position’ in favour of the EU/UK agreement on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas for 2021 for 75 jointly managed fish stocks, as well as for certain deep sea stocks for 2021 and 2022.
The agreement also includes arrangements for quota exchange between the EU and the UK and for fishing for over-quota species (see EUROPE 12737/16).
The Commission signed the text of the agreement with the UK on the same day. The agreement provides for 38,123 tonnes (t) of monkfish in 2021, of which 8,090 t for the UK; 15,000 t of haddock in the Celtic Sea (2,400 t for the UK); 55,335 t of hake (west), of which 10,884 t for UK fishermen; 19,077 t of nephrops in the North Sea (16,524 t for the UK); or 13,246 t of cod in the North Sea (5,824 t for the UK).
The agreement was finalised on 2 June in a telephone call between EU Commissioner for Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius and UK Environment Secretary George Eustice, but still needed to be endorsed by EU states.
“This is a crucial step [...] that brings clarity and stability to fishermen, while guaranteeing the sustainability of marine resources”, said Portuguese Minister for the Sea Ricardo Serrão Santos, speaking on behalf of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council.
On Wednesday, at the end of a meeting of EU Fisheries Ministers, he insisted that the agreement, reached after 5 months of tense talks, “sets an excellent precedent for future negotiations with London” on fisheries rights.
European fleets will have to give up 25% of their catches in UK waters after a transition period until June 2026.
Link to the 2021 quota agreement: https://bit.ly/3zd5ahU (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)