On Tuesday, 20 December, the European Commission announced that the European Union and the United Kingdom had reached an agreement on the quotas for fishing in their shared waters in 2023.
The British and European delegations agreed on the total allowable catches (TACs) for 74 stocks in the waters whose resources they jointly manage in the Atlantic and the North Sea.
The agreement reached “secures fishing opportunities of over 350,000 tonnes for the EU fleet, estimated to be worth around €1 billion based on historic landing prices, adjusted for inflation”, the European Commission noted.
Additional quotas will be set for sprat (the North Sea and the English Channel) and sandeel (the North Sea) at a later stage.
“Today’s deal will [...] support the livelihood of coastal communities on both sides of the Channel, Irish Sea, and North Sea. It will [...] provide certainty for our [fishermen and fisherwomen] for the year ahead and establish a strong basis for continued cooperation in fisheries management”, affirmed European Commissioner for Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, reiterating that the quotas were set based on the best available scientific advice.
Conversely, environmental NGOs believe that the agreement will lead to further decline in already vulnerable stocks. Oceana has observed “an increase in the number of catch limits [...] set in line with scientific advice”, but many exceed them by a wide margin; the NGO notes that both parties “still set fishing limits for a significant number of fish stocks that will see their continued overexploitation, particularly for the most depleted ones, jeopardizing their recovery”.
While scientists recommended the most depleted stocks—such as West of Scotland cod, Irish Sea whiting, and Celtic Sea herring—not be caught at all, Oceana’s Vera Coelho laments that the European Union and the United Kingdom “continue to allow excessive incidental catches of these stocks” by vessels fishing for other species.
“Cod and whiting stocks are already depleted—collateral damage incurred by non-selective trawls that sweep up everything in their path as they try to catch Norway lobsters and haddock. Unless we restrict this type of fishing, these stocks may never recover”, said Jenni Grossmann from the NGO ClientEarth.
ClientEarth has taken Member States to court in the EU for setting fishing quotas that have been deemed “unsustainable” despite the statutory requirement to end overfishing (by 2020).
The UK’s fishing industry will benefit from 140,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities worth over £280 million in 2023, according to the British government. The United Kingdom specifies that this brings the total value of fishing opportunities secured for the UK fleet in 2023 in the three main negotiating forums to £750 million, an increase of £34 million compared to last year.
Link to the EU-UK TACs for 2023: https://aeur.eu/f/4qi (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)